In the coming weeks and months, Nigerians are likely to besiege commercial banks and the National Identity Management Commission offices and centers following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s latest directive to financial institutions to halt transactions on all individual accounts or wallets without Bank Verification Number (BVN) or National Identity Number (NIN).
The apex bank disclosed this in a circular to all commercial, merchant, non-interest and payment service banks, other financial institutions and mobile money operators, noting that all individual existing and new tier 1, 2 and 3 accounts/wallets must have BVN or NIN.
The circular signed by the Director, Payment System Management Department at the CBN, Mr Chibuzo Efobi and Director, Financial Policy and Regulations Department, Mr Haruna Mustapha, noted that the mandate was part of the apex bank’s effort in promoting financial system stability which has led to its amendment of Section 1.5.3 of the Regulatory Framework for BVN Operations and Watch-List for the Nigerian Banking Industry (Guidelines).
The CBN’s circular also specified that existing unfunded individual Tier 1 accounts without BVN or NIN would be placed on “Post No Debit or Credit” immediately. “For all existing Tier 1 accounts/wallets without BVN or NIN: Effective immediately, any unfunded account/wallet shall be placed on ‘Post No Debit or Credit’ until the new process is satisfied.
Effective March 1, 2024, all funded accounts or wallets shall be placed on ‘Post No Debit or Credit’ and no further transactions permitted.The BVN or NIN attached to and/or associated with all accounts/wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024.
It said that to ensure uniform and full compliance, the executive compliance officers, chief compliance officers or heads of the compliance functions are advised to acquaint themselves with the attached guidance notes which becomes applicable to all institutions regulated by the CBN.
Economic analyst believe that the latest directive to halt transactions on all individual accounts or wallets without BVN or NIN, would lead to a rush by desperate customers to regularise their accounts in the coming weeks and months. They also added that this would put a lot of pressure on employees to register the customers for the BVN, while the National Identity Management Commission offices and centers would face a similar situation for the NIN registration.