BVN Deadline Extended: Customers Storms GTBank at Port Harcourt

The Central Bank of Nigeria yesterday announced the extension of the deadline for Bank Verification Number registration exercise to October 31, 2015.

The Director, Banking and Payments System Department of the CBN, Dipo Fatokun, said it had become imperative that the deadline for the registration be extended from June 30, 2015 to enable a smooth completion for all customers, particularly those in the Diaspora.

In a memo to all deposit money banks, Mr. Fatokun said the extension became necessary following the tremendous interest elicited from bank customers who crowded banking halls in order to beat the deadline for the registration.

The director said the decision was informed by the need to give Nigerian Banks’ customers in the Diaspora ample opportunity to enrol, pointing out that the guidelines for the enrolment were being finalized pending release soon.

The implementation of the BVN was launched February 2014, followed circulars that stipulated that all DMBs customers should, by June 30, 2015, have their bio-metric data captured.

“Any bank customer without the BVN attached to the account would be deemed to have inadequate requirement with respect to the Know Your Customer guidelines,” Mr. Fatokun said.

Since the commencement of the exercise, registration has been going on to enable bank capture the biometric data of their customers as part of CBN directive to ensure an effective banking and payment system in the country’s banking industry.

Former CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi, who launched the BVN in Lagos, said it was designed to ensure safety of funds and to check losses of customers’ deposits through the compromise of their personal identification numbers.

Pictures Exclusively taken by Ebunobi Roseline Obianuju