General News
BANK customers at home and abroad who are yet to link their Bank Verification Number (BVN) or National Identity Number (NIN) to their accounts are seeking more time from the authorities to enable them comply.
Banking halls across the country were packed full yesterday by such customers after their accounts were put on “Post No Debit or Credit” following the expiration of the March 1 deadline given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
A senior manager in one of the tier-1 banks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak, said the CBN circular on March 1 deadline for NIN-BVN linkage to accounts was clear.
“We will be restricting transactions in accounts without BVN or NIN. It is regulatory directive that must be complied with or it will attract sanctions. It is all about banking security and the need to ensure enhanced diligence and KYC standards,” the official told The Nation.
Continuing, he said: “The accounts will be restricted first, and normalised when customers comply.”
The CBN had, in a December 1, 2023 circular, directed that banks should place restrictions on all Tier 1 bank accounts without BVN.
Tier 1 accounts are those that can be opened with a valid identity or proof of address. The maximum daily transaction limit for a Tier 1 account is N50,000 while the maximum account balance is N300,000.
The move, the apex bank said, was to promote financial system stability and firm up the Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures in financial institutions.
The banks were also directed not to open new accounts without NIN or BVN.
It is mandatory for all Tier-1 bank accounts and wallets for individuals to have BVN and/or NIN. It remains mandatory for Tiers 2 & 3 accounts and wallets for Individual accounts to have BVN and NIN.
The CBN circular said: “The process for account opening shall commence by electronically retrieving BVN or NIN related information from the NIBSS’ BVN or NIMC’s NIN databases and for same to become the primary information for on boarding of new customers, and all existing customer accounts/wallets for individuals with validated BVN shall be profiled in the NIBSS’ ICAD immediately and within 24 hours of opening accounts/wallets.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that customers stormed their banks as early as 8 a.m. yesterday for the purpose of linking NIN with their bank accounts.
Bank officials were on hand to attend to customers on what to do.
Some customers were worried about the security implications of registering online, while others requested an extension of the deadline given the challenges faced during the process.
A security officer at a GTCO branch in Abule Egba axis, while addressing customers who were eager to gain entry into the banking hall, said that the message sent out by the bank to its customers concerning the directive was a random one.
He said not all customers that got the message were affected by the directive.
This got the people infuriated, as they said that the bank should have sent out messages to only those affected.
Also, at another GTCO branch in Egbeda, the bank advised customers to register online using specified codes displayed on the walls outside the banking hall.
An official was assigned to assist customers with generating codes and then providing tally numbers for entry into the banking hall.
Customers numbering about 100 were advised to begin the registration personally by going online to apply codes written and pasted on the walls outside the banking hall.
However, at Polaris Bank, the crowd was not allowed to converge. Those that went into the banking hall were told by the Customers Service Desk to produce their NIN slips.
Those without the slips were turned back. Customers who explained their mission to the bank’s security officers before entering the banking hall were told to get the slips.
NAN correspondent also observed that the bank’s customers without their NIN slips were not allowed for the process by the Customer Service Desk.
“We can only accept the NIN slip now,” the official insisted.
Those with NIN slips were admitted but an angry customer who walked away said, “you cannot be treating customers this way in this era of high competition”.
The banking hall of the Stanbic IBTC Bank was filled with customers as they were allowed in by the security operatives while others waited on queues to take their turns.
A customer, who gave his name simply as Raheem, claimed that his BVN, which was generated using his NIN some three years ago, revealed that upon receiving several letters from his bank to have his biometric verified, he visited his bank but was unable to perfect the process due to network glitches.
The duo of Sola Olayinka and Korede Sanusi, both customers of one of the Tier 2 banks, said their BVNs were yet to be linked with their NIN, as such had to visit the NIN office at Akowonjo, Lagos but they could not endure the mammoth crowds all gathered under the sun and so had to leave after the drudgery.
Following the deadline announced by the CBN, it is expected that an estimated 85.51 million bank customers may not be able to access their bank accounts, owning to their inability to link their NINs and/or BVNs to their accounts.
Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) revealed that Nigeria has 146 million active bank customers (individual) as of December 2022.
As of January 26, 2024, the BVN count on the NIBSS portal was 60.49 million. On NIN, about 104 million NINs had been issued as of December 2023. Nigerians raised issues surrounding verifying their NIN with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)
Also reacting to this development, the director-general of National Identification Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote, said at the commission’s management retreat in Lagos that the commission saw numerous violations and unethical behaviour at NIN enrollment and modification procedures, prompting it to put a temporary stop to its NIN enrollment efforts for Front-End Partners (FEPs).
“My decision to direct the revalidation of all FEPs was not targeted at anyone or group. It was a step towards sanitising the system and processes while ensuring the integrity of data in the country’s identity database. Now that we have revalidated and re-issued licences to about 96 FEPs, we believe NIN registration will be faster and secure,” she added.
“While we welcome the expansion of our National Identity Database to over 104 million captured NINs, and targeting additional 20 to 25 million NINs registration by the end of 2024, we cannot rest on our laurels. Millions more are waiting to be enrolled. They include students, farmers, businesspeople, and the elderly. They are the heartbeat of our country.
Meanwhile, speaking on NIN-SIM Linkage, the executive vice chairman/CEO Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, said NIN-SIM linkage is a process of connecting one’s NIN to his phone number to authenticate and protect his identity.
To link NIN to SIM, Maida urged telecom subscribers to submit their NIN to their respective Service Providers to complete the process of NIN-SIM linkage.
Some claim the CBN and the banks did not do enough to get customers to comply.
It was gathered that some banks are asking customers to use digital platforms like WhatsApp to submit and link their NIN to their bank accounts.
A Nigerian based in the United Kingdom, Michael Obinna, said it costs 70 Euros for NIN to be linked through bank agents abroad.
He said: “I expected banks with offshore branches to allow their customers in those countries to be linked in such branches, but not much of that is happening.”
But Okonkwo Okorie, a bank customer based in Lagos, said the deadline for compliance should be extended to mid year to allow further sensitization by the banks and regulatory authorities.
“I think placing restrictions on customers’ accounts will not be in the best interest of the industry. How many communication channels did the banks activate to ensure the message reached customers at the grassroots? Publishing the deadline and consequences in national dailies is never enough. What about taking the message to homes and markets? I do not think the banks did that,” he said.
Banks’ failed responsibilities
The CBN action stemmed from a recommendation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an independent inter-governmental body created to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The FATF recommendation of which Nigeria is a signatory prohibits banks from keeping anonymous accounts or accounts in obviously fictitious names.
Investigations showed that although CBN policies mandated financial institutions to undertake customer due diligence (CDD) measures when establishing business relations, many of the banks are not complying with the directive.
Part of the FATF recommendations is that banks should identify the customer and verify customer’s identity using reliable, independent source documents, data or information.
The lenders are also expected to identify the beneficial owner, and taking reasonable measures to verify the identity of the beneficial owner, such that the financial institution is satisfied that it knows who the beneficial owner is.
Financial institutions are also required by law to understand the ownership and control structure of the customer, obtain information on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship and conduct ongoing due diligence on the business relationship and scrutiny of transactions undertaken throughout the course of that relationship.
This is to ensure that the transactions being conducted are consistent with the institution’s knowledge of the customer, their business and risk profile, including, where necessary, the source of funds.
“Where the financial institution is unable to comply with the applicable requirements, it should be required not to open the account, commence business relations or perform the transaction; or should be required to terminate the business relationship; and should consider making a suspicious transactions report in relation to the customer,” the FATF stipulates.
THE NATION
2nd March, 2024.
C.E.
Tags: BVN CBN NIN
