The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has declared that accounts without a Bank Verification Number (BVN) or National Identification Number (NIN) will be frozen from April 2024.
The NIN stands for National Identification Number, which is a unique identification number assigned to individuals in Nigeria. BVN stands for Bank Verification Number, a biometric identification system introduced to enhance security in the Nigerian banking system by linking individuals to their financial transactions.
The CBN made the announcement known in a circular issued by the apex bank and sent to all deposit money banks on Friday.
It instructed banks to place a “Post no Debit” restriction – which prevents customers from making withdrawals, transfers, or any other debits “for all existing Tier-1 accounts/wallets without BVN or NIN”.
“Post No Debit” is a term used to describe a restriction imposed by banks on specific accounts, preventing customers from making withdrawals, transfers, or any other debits from their accounts.
This measure effectively freezes the funds in the account, rendering it inaccessible for the duration of the restriction.
The Central Bank also stated that all the BVNs or NINs attached to and/or associated with all accounts/wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024.
The circular was jointly signed by the Director, the Payments System Management Department, Chibuzo Efobi, and the Director of the Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustapha.
The bank said the directive was part of efforts to promote financial system stability and strengthen Know Your Customer procedures in all financial institutions.
“The process for account opening shall commence by electronically retrieving BVN or NIN-related information from the NIBSS’ BVN or NIMC’s NIN databases and for the same to become the primary information for onboarding new customers and all existing customer accounts/wallets for individuals with validated BVN shall be profiled in the NIBSS’ ICAD immediately and within 24 hours of opening accounts/wallets,” the CBN added.
In cases where a potential customer does not have a BVN or NIN, the CBN advised the regulated financial institution to “commence the process of enrolling the individual onto the BVN database and be guided by the existing protocols issued by NIBSS”.
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