OPay, a Fintech company, has disclosed that fraudulent accounts and accounts which are not KYC compliant will be blocked on its system from March 1, 2024. KYC (Know-Your-Customer) is a process utilized by banks to obtain information about the identity and address of its customers, which helps to ensure that the services of banks are not misused. The Fintech firm stated that security measures on its platform have been upgraded and new customers are now required to provide their National Identity Number (NIN) for account opening.
According to the company, “When you log into your app and you have tier one account and you don’t have your NIN, it will ask for your NIN. You cannot move forward without inputting that NIN. So, that is one of the things we’ve already done.
“The second thing is, for new customers, you’re going to start off with the NIN. That’s what we’re implementing. So, we’re pulling information from your NIN into your wallet. That is going live next month.
“We have a timeline, March 1st, wherein anyone who is not compliant will be locked out. Any fraudulent account will be yanked off our platform. There must be correlation between your face and the picture in your NIN.”
The company further stated customers will be required to link their accounts with Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), adding that “so many fictitious accounts will definitely go.”
Recall that in December 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that bank accounts without a NIN or BVN would be frozen by April 2024 in order to “promote financial system stability and strengthen KYC procedures in all financial institutions.”
