BVN Enrollment Rises by 3 Million, Hits 54.7 Million in May

Enrollment for the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) by account owners in the country rose by 3 million to 54.7 million in the first five months of this year.

The recent data released by the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that as at May 29, 2922 , the number of enrollment rose by 5.8 per cent compared with 51.7 million reported as of December 26, 2021.

The data further showed that active bank accounts in the country stood at 133.5 million as of December 2021.

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

It is a unique number that allows individual accounts to be verified across the Nigerian banking industry

The NIBSS stated that with BVN, customers bank accounts are protected from unauthorised access, will address issues of identity theft, thus reduce exposure to fraud, standardise efficiency of banking operations and enhance the banking industry chances of being able to fish out blacklisted customers

To have many more Nigerians on the BVN database, the CBN had in December 2019 announced the commencement of the classification BVN 2.0 plan that allows both the rich and poor in rural areas to access financial services.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who broke the news at the end of the 11th Bankers’ Committee retreat in Ogere, Ogun State, explained that BVN will now be classified into two, BVN Premium and BVN Lite.

According to him, while the BVN Premium covers customers that can provide the 18 basic requirements for a complete BVN enrolment, the BVN Lite requires minimal documentation like names and phone numbers for bank customers, especially those in the rural areas that do not meet the full requirements.

The initiative, which is in collaboration with the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and Mobile Money Operators (MMOs), would ensure more Nigerians are brought into the financial system. “The BVN 2.0 classification scheme will help bring more people into the financial system and reduce the financial exclusion rate,” the CBN Governor had said.