The Chairman of the group, Tunde Kuponiyi, made this call while speaking to newsmen on the extension, which offered new window of opportunity to comply and avoid the immediate transactional hitches due to non-compliance. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had on the expiration of the deadline for registration of BVN, announced a four-month extension to October 31, 2015.
“We are calling on customers to visit their banks and promptly enroll for the BVN”, he said. Kuponiyi noted that the purpose of the extension is to allow customers enough time to enroll, irrespective of where they are based
. “The extension presents ample opportunity for bank customers to do their enrolment without the challenge of spending hours on queues as experienced few days to the end of the initial deadline. “The four months extension seems a long period, but customers should not delay or postpone their enrolment again, as it is better to give immediate attention. “Customers should not wait a few days to October 31, to avoid last minute registration rush, as well as spending hours in the banking halls.
They can enroll from any branch of their bank, hence there is no need to wait till when you can visit the branch where the account is domiciled”, he said. Listing the benefits of the initiative, Kuponiyi noted that the BVN affords customers the opportunity to register their biometric data as a unique seal for their accounts and to protect their funds against fraudulent and unauthorised access.
“The BVN protects customer bank accounts from unauthorized access, as biometric information is not easily manipulated. It also increases the efficiency of the banking industry as it reduces incidence of fraudulent/duplicate bank accounts, and easily highlights blacklisted customers.
“Furthermore, full integration of BVN provides standardized efficiency of banking operation. This means that all banking operations will be verified using the same method, reducing cases of human error or inconsistency. In addition to these, the implementation of BVN means transaction authentication without the use of cards, but instead using only biometrics and a PIN”, he added.
Established July 2009, CeBIH comprises all Heads of e-business/e-channels and cards services of all the banks in Nigeria. The primary objective of the committee is to promote electronic banking services in line with global best practices and serve as a forum for sharing ideas and experiences by the e-banking industry heads.