BVN: No More Extension For Non-compliant Customers

With less than 25 days to the deadline for customers to comply with their Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration, banks in the country as all as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have said there will be no extension for defaulting customers.

The CBN had moved the deadline from the initial June 30 date to October 31 following last minute rush by customers. The apex bank has however made known its resolve not to further extend the deadline.

It also received support from banks as the Bankers Committee, which comprise of bank’s chief executives and the CBN last Friday announced that there would be no more extension. Speaking with journalists after the committees meeting, the managing director and chief executive of Ecobank Nigeria, Jubril Aku said once the deadline has passed, customers will not be allowed to operate their accounts.

“October 31 is the deadline and we don’t want what happened the other time where there was a rush towards the end of the deadline. We want to make sure that we continue to sensitize bank customers so that they would come and do their BVN because there would be no extension.

“Once that deadline pass, you will not be able to operate that account. All efforts have been made to ensure that the registration process is seamless for customers to come and obtain their BVN” he said.

Following the initial rush between the end of June and July 2015, there has been a steady decline in new BVN enrolment figures for August and September, 2015 according to the CBN.

The emerging statistical trend of the BVN registration exercise showed for about 52 million active bank accounts in various banks, total enrolment stood at about 20 million, out of which about 14 million accounts have been found linked to the BVN as at September, 2015.