Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has announced the much awaited biometric registration of customers of Nigerian banks will begin on Monday, June 16.
NIBSS, which is coordinating the exercise, said the registration will culminate in the issuance of Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) to individual bank customers.
Ade Shonubi, managing director (MD) of NIBSS, said the pilot phase of the exercise – which included 44 bank sites – has been completed, during which around 7,000 BVNs were issued by 21 banks and the NIBSS to existing internal bank customers.
He said the Monday rollout would restricted to 1,000 bank branches in Lagos, with the nationwide rollout to take place some months later.
“We are adopting a phased rollout approach starting with Lagos State. It commences on June 16, 2014, at 1,000 bank branches, after taking out the pilot branches, out of the 1,410 bank branches in the state. Across the nation at full rollout, 10,000 enrolment sets will be deployed across 5,000 bank branches, implying deployment of two enrolment sets per bank branch,” Shonubi said.
“In line with the commitment of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Banker’s Committee to the financial enlightenment of Nigerians, all possible knowledge gaps will be closed through bespoke awareness programmes, customer education and engagement initiatives to ensure massive uptake of the BVN by existing bank customers.”
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