In September of this year, 63.4 million bank account holders nationwide enrolled for the Bank Verification Number (BVN).
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) recently disclosed its BVN data, which revealed this. The organisation previously disclosed data indicating that 62.7 million registrants were in the enrolment database as of July.
This suggests that 750,048 account owners registered for the BVN in the previous two months.
The Motivating Factor
NIBSS data shows that 60 million BVN were registered as of December 2023. This implies that this year’s database has expanded by 3.4 million entries.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instructed all banks to freeze any accounts not linked to the BVN by April 2024. This directive, issued in December 2023, may be the reason for the notable spike in BVN registration this year.
The regulation also mandated that the National Identity Number (NIN), commonly known as the BVN, be used for all accounts and wallets at all commercial, merchant, non-interest, payment service banks, other financial institutions, and mobile money operators.
Bank Accounts Against BVN
Although BVN is now required to register an account, the number of active bank accounts in the nation indicates that there is still a significant discrepancy between the number of accounts and the number of BVN.
As per the latest banking data by NIBSS, there were 231.1 million active bank accounts in Nigeria as of July 2024.
The number of registered BVNs and accounts still differs significantly based on the current number of BVNs. Nevertheless, given that a single BVN might be associated with several accounts, industry analysts think the difference might not be significant.
Five percent (3 million) of banked adults in Nigeria do not own a BVN or NIN, according to the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2023 Survey report.
What To Note
Each account can be validated within the Nigerian banking sector using a BVN, which is a distinct number.
Every bank customer in Nigeria receives a unique ID number upon enrolment, which is connected to any account they have with a bank in the country. The BVN, according to NIBSS, guarantees that clients’ bank accounts are shielded from unwanted access while providing bank account owners with a distinct identity that can be validated throughout the Nigerian banking sector.
According to the latest regulations from the CBN, all financial accounts, including those of fintech, need to be connected to BVN for them to function.
