The linkage of Bank Verification Number (BVN) to bank accounts has increased to 62.7 million in July, compared to 61.87 million recorded in early May, 2024, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has disclosed.
This indicates that a total of 854,267 account owners have registered for the BVN in the last two months, NIBSS in its recent BVN data revealed.
NIBSS data shows that as of December 2023, there were 60 million BVN registered. This indicates that this year’s database has grown by 2.7 million.
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instructed all banks to freeze any account not linked to the BVN by April 2024. This directive, which was issued in December 2023, may have caused the spike in BVN registration.
Although BVN is now required in order to register an account, the number of active bank accounts in the nation indicates that there is still a significant discrepancy between the number of accounts and the number of BVN.
According to Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2023 Survey report, five per cent (3 million) of banked adults do not have a BVN or NIN.
According to the recent banking data released by NIBSS, the number of active bank accounts in Nigeria stood at 219.6 million in March 2024. Meanwhile, only 62.7 million have BVN.
Going by the current number of BVNs, there is still a wide gap between the number of accounts and the registered BVNs.