After months of planning during the pilot phase, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), on Tuesday, in Lagos, said all is now set for the rollout of the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) on Monday, June 16, 2014.
The BVN initiative, according to NIBSS, “involves the capturing of an individual’s basic biometric data information which includes the facial image, the 10fingerprints as well as other unique features of that individual. It will utilize the biometric technology system for verification and secure authentication of the identity of Bank customers and ultimately as a means of authenticating customer’s identity at point of banking transactions.
“It gives the Bank customer a uniform and single identity called the Bank Verification Number (BVN) that will be acceptable across the Nigerian Financial System as all other Bank accounts operated by this individual will be tied to that BVN.
“The solution is to ensure accountability, check identity theft, reduce exposure to fraud, enhance credit advancement to Bank customers, protect Bank customers’ account from unauthorized access and also encourage financial inclusion,” the statement added.
According to NIBSS, over 7,000 numbers were issued by 21 deposit money banks and NIBSS to existing bank customers across 44 Bank locations that include 21 bank headquarters.
The Lagos rollout begins on Monday, June 16, 2014, across 1,000 bank branches, after taking out the pilot branches, out of the 1,410 bank branches in the state.
A statement by NIBSS quoted Ade Shonubi, its managing director as saying that when the rollout goes nationwide later, “10,000 enrolment sets will be deployed across 5,000 bank branches, implying deployment of two enrolment sets per bank branch.”
The BVN is yet another solution for the identification and verification of bank customers statement, beginning with the Lagos rollout phase, which would precede a nationwide roll-out. The phased approach, NIBSS said is in line with others before it such as the three-tiered Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and cashless policy initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Shonubi, who doubles as the Head of the BVN Project Management team said: “The pilot phase of the BVN registration of bank customers served as a model and basis for roll-out of the solution to existing Bank customers. All Nigerian Banks have their headquarter servers configured, deployed and tested, and had their staff trained before engaging in enrolment and verification of end users who are mainly internal customers.
Feedback from application usage and experience were collated, analysed and shared with solution provider to ensure seamless service delivery during eventual roll-out.”
Shonubi added that, “In line with the commitment of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Banker’s Committee to the financial enlightenment of Nigerians, all possible knowledge gaps will be closed through bespoke awareness programmes, customer education and engagement initiatives to ensure massive uptake of BVN by existing Bank customers.”
To be enrolled, bank customers are expected to go into selected branches of their bank, complete and submit the BVN Enrolment form, present themselves for data capturing (such as Fingerprint, facial Image etc), and get acknowledgment slip with the transaction ID is issued to him/her. Within 24hours the system confirms the application, a BVN is generated, after which the customer receives an SMS for pickup.
The initiative, NIBSS assured, is to guaranty the safety of the Nigerian financial system and it’s in the interest of all Nigerians, its rollout is coming almost four months after immediate past CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, on February 14, 2014, flagged-off the pilot phase of the project deployment which was scheduled to run to May 31, after which full rollout to Bank branches was to begin.
Daily Independent
