About 2.3 million Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) were issued in Nigeria in the last three months, bringing the total number of biometric enrollments for the bank IDs to 54 million, as of April 10.
According data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the figure is up from 51.7 million BVNs reported at the close of December 2021.
With 54 million BVNs, officials say the gap between the bank IDs and the number of existing bank accounts remains wide. NIBSS has highlighted the importance of the IDs as a way of protecting bank accounts from unauthorized access.
The BVN is a unique identification number issued to bank account holders, with which they can be identified across the Nigerian banking environment.
There have been talks in the past about integrating the bank IDs with national digital ID numbers (NINs).
