THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) may have perfected plans to begin the pilot project of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) in May.
The initiative, which has been scripted to tow the mode of the pilot run of cash-less policy, would begin in Lagos, with no fewer than 1000 of the 1401 branch network of the nation’s deposit money banks.
Already, the scheme, before now, known as biometric data capturing by banks, had commenced since March 31, at the respective banks’ head offices.
Corroborating the development, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Isaac Okoroafor, said BVN project, through the biometric capturing, was anchored on the need to reduce to barest minimum, incidences of fraud, identity theft, enhance credit risk management and financial inclusion.
According to him, individual banks will have a database of its customers, shared across its branch network, while NIBSS will host the industry-wide database, and made up of all the nation’s lenders.
This would mean that new account openings from all the banks would be cleared first from NIBSS database, as a foil to identity theft, fraud and multiple identities.
Okoroafor explained that the process would be foolproof to plausible degree, adding that besides the facial capturing, the 10-finger prints captured would be hallmark the exercise, since no two biometrics are the same.
The CBN spokesman said that transactions on accounts not registered would trigger alerts and banks, which are involved would be treated as aiding fraudulent activities in the banking system.
According to him, in the long run, biometric system will replace various identification mode used in the banking industry, eliciting fresh data collection at various banks on the opening of new accounts.
He said that the option of running a pilot scheme was favored because it will reveal the likely challenges, while solutions are preferred before nationwide rollout.
But the BVN Project Manager, NIBSS, Oluseyi Adenmosun, said the cooperation of all stakeholders- from banks to customers, would be needed to achieve the desired goals.
According to him, there was need to protect legitimate businesses and mitigate frauds to sustain confidence in the industry.
Adenmosun pointed out that the project does not conflict with the NUBAN scheme (the new account number initiative undertaken recently), as both serve different purposes.
He also said that it does not conflict with the national identity project, adding that already, the National Identity Management Company have worked out a model of mutual cooperation for the BVN scheme.
According to him, the focus of the BVN project at the moment is on the banking industry, noting that credit buses system, among others, would be incorporated later.
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