BVN enrolment rises by 2.3m in three months, hit 54m

LATEST figures from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) have shown that Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolments by bank account owners in the country rose by 2.3 million between January 2022 and April 2022 (in the last three months), reaching 54,241,963 on April 17, 2022.

At the end of December 2021, enrolments for the number stood at 51.9 million. Also, NIBSS data showed that active bank accounts in the country stood at 133.5 million as of December 2021.

BVN is a biometric technology with a secure unique identifier to analyse human characteristics as an enhanced form of authentication for real-time security processes.

Across the world, conventional security systems (password and PIN) face regular compromises. Thus, there is a high demand for greater security for access to sensitive or personal information in the banking system.

It should be remembered that Nigerian bank customers were first mandated to enroll for a Bank Verification Number (BVN) in February, 2014.

In Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, NIBSS and a German firm, Dermalog, launched the $50 million BVN project on February 14, 2014.

The partnership had a simple aim: capturing biometrics of all bank customers and giving them a unique identity that can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry.

The unique identifier ensures that customers’ bank accounts are protected from unauthorised access.

It helps address issues of identity theft, thus reducing exposure to fraud.

It is accepted as a means of identification across Nigerian banks just as it helps to standardise the efficiency of banking operations.

But, there are loopholes and setbacks in guaranteeing these benefits.

In February 2022, the House of Representatives initiated a probe into the N1.2 trillion funds held by 45 million accounts without BVNs.

The probe blamed some commercial banks for holding the funds and the CBN for failing to enforce its own guidelines and sanctions.

Figures released by the NIBSS revealed that there are over 122.4 million bank accounts in Nigeria as of June 2019.

According to the NIBSS data, out of the 122.4 million bank accounts in the country, only 72.9 million accounts were active as of the end of June 2019.

More than one year later, in 2020, Nigeria’s active bank account increased by 14.41 per cent from 97.485 million active accounts to 111.54 million, data from the NIBSS revealed.

Nigeria recorded a total of 160,038 bank accounts for the period under review, 30.31 per cent of the accounts translating to 48.5 million accounts, were dormant. However, the percentage of dormant accounts reduced within the period under review when compared to the April 2020 figures, while the absolute number increased.

In December 2021, the total number of bank accounts in the country increased to 191.4 million compared to 124.8 million it stood as of December 2019, according to NIBSS.

The latest figure means Nigerian banks between 2019 and 2021 registered 66.6 million new accounts.

A breakdown of the total bank accounts shows that there are 49.8 million current accounts, 120.4 million savings accounts, 8.9 million corporate accounts and 179.2 million individual accounts.

Out of the total, only 133.5 million of the total accounts were recorded as active out of which 122.3 million are individual accounts.

Further analysis of NIBSS data showed that Nigerian banks processed at least 51.9 million BVN (now 54.2 million) registrations in the last seven years, of which 44.5 million are active.

Using the December data of 191.4 million bank accounts, 54 million are the ones with BVNs. This means that about 137.2 million bank accounts, and possibly more, are without BVNs.