What you need to know about BVN

The Bank Verification Number (BVN) initiative was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It is the registration of customers in the financial system using biometric technology, which involves the process of recording a person’s unique physical traits such as fingerprints and facial features.

This record can then be used to correctly identify the person afterwards. Once a person’s biometrics have been properly captured, the person is given a Bank Verification Number or BVN.

The objective of the BVN initiative is to protect bank customers, reduce fraud and further strengthen the Nigerian banking system. Fraud is reduced because no two people have the same biometric information.

Banks will therefore be able to check the features of a person doing a transaction against the record the bank has captured thereby correctly identifying the owner of an account.

All bank customers in Nigeria are required to register or enrol for a BVN. All bank customers must have their BVN by June 2015. To enrol, bank customers must visit a branch of their bank (See how to enrol below).

The BVN given to a person by one bank will apply to that same person for any bank in Nigeria.

Banks customers should ensure that they do not respond to suspicious emails pretending to be from their bank and requiring them to provide sensitive information online.

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Customers should contact their bank directly if in doubt about how to enrol for their BVN.

Because the BVN captures physical features, it is also very helpful for people who cannot read and write, thereby making sure that everyone is included in the financial system. BVN will help the banking system identify customers who have been blacklisted by one bank and who move to other banks.

Biometric security identification is a secure method of identification that eliminates issues with identity theft and fraud. Because biometrics are unique to an individual, biometrics provide a strong link between the individual and the claimed identity.

For you to enrol for BVN, visit any branch of your bank, fill out and submit the BVN enrolment form, Biometric information such as fingerprints and facial imagery is recorded, an acknowledgement slip with transaction ID is issued, Bank Verification Number is created and customer is alerted to arrange for pick-up.

BVN has a lot of benefits such that BVN is a unique identity that can be verified across the Nigerian banking industry, it protects customer bank accounts from authorised access, as biometric information is not easily manipulated, BVN strengthens the Nigerian financial system by reducing the risk of unauthorised access to customer bank accounts.

BVN increases the efficiency of the banking industry as it reduces the incidence of fraudulent/duplicate bank accounts, and easily highlights blacklisted customers, full integration of BVN provides standardised efficiency of banking operation. This means that all banking operations will be verified using the same method, reducing cases of human error or inconsistency, and implementation of BVN means transaction authentication without the use of cards, but instead using only biometrics and a PIN.