BVN willl curb fraud in forex transactions – CBN

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has maintained that the adoption of Bank Verification Number (BVN) as a condition for the purchase of foreign exchange was expected to reduce the incidence of multiple purchases, round tripping and illicit transfer of funds, facilitate enforcement of authorized limits of forex sales to end users.

Also CBN said, the adoption of BVN as a condition for forex purchase would sanitize the retail segment of the market and engender policies that would facilitate better allocation of the forex, based on genuine demands.

It would be recalled that CBN recently mandated all banks and licensed Bureaux de Change (BDCs) operating in Nigeria to provide BVN as part of the requirement for the sale of foreign exchange to their customers.

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) had faulted the decision of CBN to make the biometric verification number mandatory requirement for foreign exchange transactions, and called for the harmonization of the different operational guidelines by the CBN and the National Financial Intelligence Units (NFIU), as well as a review of the scope of BDC operations as defined by the CBN guidelines to reflect current market realities.

But CBN in a statement posted on its website last week and signed by its Director, corporate Communications, Ibrahim Mu’azu said, “The BVN is neither a payment instrument nor an account number and therefore could not be used to access any account by unauthorized users. The banks, BDC operators and even regulators use the BVN to validate the identity of a customer using some biometric information such as finger prints and photograph obtained at the point of enrolment.