Enrolment for bank verification number (BVN) closes on Tuesday, June 30.
Only 14 million customers have been captured but the figure is expected to rise to 20 million at the deadline, according to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS).
Aggregate daily mobile transactions have increased significantly to N5 billion, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed at the EuroFinance conference in Lagos.
NIBSS Project Manager for BVN, Seyi Adenimosun, announced at the conference that “we have about 14 million unique BVN registered customers. I do not know how many more would register.
“But as June 30 comes closer, where we used to register an average 400,000 a week, it has shot up to 900,000 per week. I’m sure very soon we would hit 20 million customers.”
He said automated teller machine (ATM) cards would be updated to reflect information as the cards get renewed on expiration.
Adenimosun ruled out outright replacement of ATM cards, saying it is capital intensive, and an avoidable cost to banks, since the cards will be renewed on expiration.
According to him, any fraud incident involving theft of biometrics of BVN compliant customer would be investigated and possibly resolved within 14 days after complaint is lodged.
CBN Director of Banking and Payment Systems, Dipo Fatokun, urged mobile money operators to focus on the unbanked rather than compete with banks in metropolitan areas.
His words: “Some of the operators have not actually identified where they should operate. Some of them are trying to compete with deposit money banks in the cities.
“Mobile money is not for those that already have bank accounts, there would be no attraction for them except convenience; but if [banks] extend their reach to the rural areas and focus on the unbanked, the volumes would grow.”
Fatokun disclosed that the CBN has licensed two telecommunication firms to operate its Super Agent scheme which would be used to target the unbanked sector.
“One of the telcos we gave approval-in-principle has already recruited more than 20,000 agents, preparatory to the super-agent structure.
“We have given this approval to two telcos because they applied for it but if others apply with no objection, we would give them. Apart from the telcos, we are also looking at a situation where companies interested would come up.
“We already have some who are not in the telco business proving Super Agent services now. We have about three or four but the licensing regime just started.”
