CBN releases new guidelines for diaspora BVN registration

CBN releases new guidelines for diaspora BVN registration 

Nigerians in Diaspora that have Nigerian bank accounts and are yet to do their Bank Verification Numbers BVN registration can now do so without leaving their resident country as the Central Bank of Nigeria has made two options available for them to conveniently do the registrations.

According to circular dated August 18th and signed by the CBN's Director of Banking and Payment System, Dipo Fatokun, Nigerian bank customers in the diaspora can do their registration via option one; present themselves to the offshore branches/subsidiaries of any Nigerian bank (where such facilities have been made available), for the BVN enrollment.

“The deployment of scanners and other devices to these locations have started in earnest. Nigerian banks abroad are expected to capture necessary data, generate a BVN and communicate same to the customers. Thereafter, the customers are expected to forward the assigned BVN to their banks, for linkage with their accounts.

A web portal to achieve this linkage to bank accounts has been developed and deployed, while the process of such linkage will be made available by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to all those enrolled abroad,” the circular stated The second option is through the use of an company known as the Online Integrated Solution (OIS).

The company will establish stations for data capture and generation of BVN at the cost of £30 per transaction which is to be paid by the customer. The company is expected to capture necessary data for online transmission to the NIBSS, who would thereafter, generate the BVN and communicate same to the customer.

“The customer may approach OIS for BVN, where the communication from NIBSS is not received within 48 hours after the enrolment. Thereafter, Nigerian bank customers in the diaspora are expected to forward their BVN to their banks for linkage with their accounts as in option one above,” it explained.

The Bank Verification Number registration exercise in Nigeria has been extended to October 31st.