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

folarin okunola

September 27, 2015 6:27 PM

Mu’azu Ibrahim, CBN director, corporate communications, said the CBN was concerned by the number of bank account holders who are yet to enroll for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise

BVN data capture

In a statement in Abuja last Friday, Mu’azu Ibrahim, CBN director, corporate communications, said the CBN was concerned by the number of bank account holders who are yet to enroll for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise which would end by October 31.

The CBN says about 32 million active bank account holders are yet to be enrolled in the BVN exercise.

“One of the most potent arguments advanced by banks for not extending enough credit to prospective credit customers in Nigeria has been the absence of credible identity system. Thus, it was agreed that the scheme would make access to credit easier for low income earners in the society,’’ said the apex bank.

According to a report by Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, after 18 months of the exercise, evidence shows that quite a good number of bank customers are yet to enroll.

READ: Apex bank to enforce overseas spending limit on customers with multiple debit cards

The CBN in collaboration with all the banks in the country had on February 14, 2014, inaugurated the BVN scheme, which is a centralized biometric information system for the banking industry.

The CBN had initially placed the deadline for the BVN registration at June30, 2015, ut then postponed it to October 31, after millions of Nigerians failed to enroll.

folarin okunola