THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has extended the Bank Verification Number, BVN, enrollment for Other Financial Institutions customers which includes MfBs to December 31, 2017.
The apex bank also stated that with effect from January 1, 2018, all customers without BVN linked to their account should no longer be entitled to debit operations.
Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Mrs Tokunbo Martins, announced the extension in a statement issued last week, saying the apex bank extended the deadline after appeals from various bodies.
Martins said: “As you are aware, the deadline expired July 31, 2017, and consequently several OFIs are in breach of this regulatory directive.
The bank said it acceded to the appeals from the Financial Inclusion Secretariat, the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) and members of Mortgage Bankers’ Association of Nigeria (MB AN) soliciting for a shift in the deadline to support better compliance and avoid further financial exclusion.
She said: “The various challenges encountered in the early stage of deployment of the joint CBN/NIBSS support to members of NAMB have also informed management’s decision.
“In this regard, management has approved an extension of the timeline to December 31, 2017, to enable all OFIs to continue with the BVN enrolment exercise and report progress.”
