Banks to freeze 32 million accounts from November 1

The Bankers’ committee has announced that bank customers have until October 31 to enroll for their Bank Verification Number or run the risk of having their accounts frozen from November 1.

The Bankers’ Committee, an umbrella body comprising made up of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), deposit money banks (DMBs), and discount houses, also said that only 20 million out of the 52 million active bank accounts have enrolled for the BVN exercise so far, according to data from the apex bank.

This was disclosed by Jubril Aku, managing director, Ecobank Nigeria, at the end of the 324 meeting of the committee in Lagos, saying that there is no going back on the new deadline set by the CBN for customers to obtain their BVNs.

“There will be no extension of the October 31 deadline. All efforts have been made by the committee, CBN and Nigeria Interbank Settlement System for bank customers to obtain their BVN. The customers who fail to meet the deadline will not be able to operate their accounts until they comply,” said Aku.

READ: '32 million bank account holders yet to enroll' - CBN

Aku, who spoke on behalf of the committee members also said that Nigerians in the diaspora can enroll at different embassies within their resident countries of get enrolled by a consultant involved in the contract for a fee.

Also speaking at the event was Mrs. Tokunbo Marins, CBN director, banking supervision, said the banking sector was stable and resilient with a total of N740 billion already refunded to banks by the CBN after the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was adjusted from 31 percent to 25 percent during the September Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

The BVN was introduced by the CBN in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee on February 14, 2014 to implement unique identities for all bank customers and other users of financial services in the country by utilizing the customers’ biometric data as means of identification.