By 
About 38 million accounts are now linked with the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) even as the regulator announced its target for 100 million BVNs in the next five years.
The CBN in an official statement released in Abuja said it would be pursuing an aggressive policy to ensure banks link about 100 million accounts to the BVN in another 60 months as part of part efforts to create a credit worthy and transparent banking system.
“In order to ease the constraint poor identification has on the availability of credit to prospective banking customers, the CBN will support an aggressive enrolment of prospective banking customers in the informal sector onto the BVN system.
“The current enrolment of 38 million unique banking customers will be expanded to 100 million over the next five years,” said the CBN which also highlighted the benefit accruable from the ongoing plans to link BVN with the National Identity Number (NIM) issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
The regulator states: “Ongoing partnership with the National Identity Management Commission will also enable integration between the two databases.
“This effort will improve the comfort level on banks in providing services to an expanded customer base. It will also aid in the development of a credit profile for banking customers which will assist in improving access to credit for creditworthy borrowers by banks.”
Banks are currently under obligation to ensure that the details of the BVN signatories, directors and beneficial owners of corporate accounts are linked to their respective entity accounts whether incorporate and non-incorporate.
The CBN said its strategy is to make the banking system a much reliable means of accessing and deciding on credible data whether of individuals or corporate entities.
