Enrolments for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) by bank account owners in the country increased to 64.8 million in January, according to the latest data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).
The latest data shows that 800,000 bank account owners did their enrolments between November 2024, when the figure was 64 million and January 2025.
The NIBSS data also showed that there is still a wide gap between the number of active bank accounts and the number of BVN in the country, which is now a compulsory requirement for opening an account.
According to data by NIBSS, the number of active bank accounts in Nigeria stood at 231.1 million in July 2024.
According to Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2023 Survey report, 5% (3 million) of banked adults do not have a BVN or NIN.
In October 2024, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, announced that NIBSS would launch a non-resident BVN platform to enable Nigerians in the diaspora to operate their local bank accounts, run their businesses, and sort out KYC issues with financial institutions from anywhere in the world.
This has, however, not been officially launched despite the December 2024 timeline given by Cardoso, who had said the initiative is part of efforts to ensure that Nigerians irrespective of their location anywhere in the world can participate in the Nigerian economy without any hassles and diversify their businesses.
According to the recent directives from the CBN, every financial account, including that of fintechs, must now be linked with BVN before it can be operational.
