By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Tuesday issued a Circular reminding Nigerian Banks on a May 31 2012 deadline to comply with the new policy of a Uniform Bank Account Number.
The CBN Circular dated April 17, 2012 with Reference Number BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/01/005 Reads thus: “Please refer to our circular No. 02/033 dated June 13, 2011, which extended the transition period for compliance with the Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number code standard by one year. During the transition period, the old account numbers were to run concurrently with the NUBAN codes.
“This is to remind you that the transition period for compliance with the standard shall lapse on May 31, 2012.
In view of this, all Deposit Money Bank (DMBs) are hereby directed to fully comply with NUBAN standard by that date†the CBN said.
According to Nigeria’s Central Bank, with effect from June 01 2012, any payment instrument that is not NUBAN compliant will not be allowed to pass through the Automated Clearing System.
The CBN further said that Banks that go contrary to the directive will face the appropriate penalty. “For the avoidance of doubt, any Bank that flouts this directive shall face the appropriate penalty as outlined in the Guidelines. Compliance shall be strictly monitored†the Circular said.
The CBN released the Guidelines on Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN) a 10 digit scheme in August, 2010, to achieve uniform customer bank account numbering structure among all Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria, within 9 months. NUBAN has great potentials to resolve the observed problems with electronic payments in Nigeria, as many of them are related to specification of wrong beneficiary Account Numbers.
The NUBAN scheme requires that the account number field in the cheque MICR code line should feature only NUBAN numbers. Accordingly, all new cheques issued to customers should carry NUBAN codes.
