By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) says it recorded 57,431,355 Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) as at March 2023.
CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele disclosed this on Tuesday while declaring open the going 34th Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors, held in Calabar, Cross River State.
The theme of the seminar is: ” Implementing a Robust Payment Archchtecture: Prospects, Opportunities and Challenges”
Emefiele who was represented by the Director of Monetary Policy Department, Dr. Mahmud Hassan, said the BVN is supporting the development of credit profiles for banking customers, which will assist in improving access to credit for credit-worthy borrowers by banks.
He stated that the BVN has also helped the industry in investigating fraud and other related crimes, adding that the BVN has continued to feature “in our KYC requirements as part of plans to ease the constraint associated with poor identification of banking customers”.
The Governor said, “We have continued to support the aggressive enrollment of prospective banking customers in the informal sector onto the BVN system.
“With a total enrolment of 57,431,355 as at 31st March 2023, the BVN is supporting the development of credit profiles for banking customers, which will assist in improving access to credit for credit-worthy borrowers by banks.
Emefiele highlighted some of the challenges faced by the Bank in implementing some initiatives in banking industry to include, weak social infrastructure and Cyber Threats and Frauds.
He however pointed out that the collaborative effort between the CBN and other players in the industry is helping to curtail the nefarious activities of these fraudsters.
“In response to the challenges posed by cyber threats, the CBN has put the following initiatives in place: The Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF): consists of all relevant stakeholders, to proactively address challenges and safeguard the integrity of the e-payment channels.
“Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard: mandatory for any entity that processes, stores/saves or transmits payment card data.
“The Financial Industry Cybersecurity Fusion Centre: serves as a sectoral Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) for the Nigerian Financial Services Industry.
“Other Initiatives against cybersecurity and fraud in Nigeria include: Cybercrime Acts’ enacted in 2021 to address National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy.
Endorsement of the SWIFT Sanction Screening Service & SWIFT Cross-border payments security (ISO20022 Standard) for banks.
“With these initiatives in place, the CBN has demonstrated irrevocable commitment to ensuring the stability and safety of the Nigerian payment system. Accordingly, we shall continue to deepen our oversight of the activities of operators in the payments system as well as ensure full compliance with regulations. In this regard, examiners and supervisors would continue to ensure that services delivered by participants meet required security standards.
“The Bank will also continue to adopt a collaborative approach to achieve minimal cybersecurity threats in the payments system. A holistic mechanism for addressing cybersecurity threats requires policy and operational actions by all stakeholders”, he added.
