BVN Enrollments Increase to 62.7 Million in July 2024

According to the latest data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the enrollment for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) by Nigerian bank account owners has increased to 62.7 million as of July 2024, up from 61.87 million in May 2024.

The report shows that a total of 854,267 account owners have registered for the BVN in the last two months. As of December 2023, the total registered BVN stood at 60 million, indicating a growth of 2.7 million so far this year.

The increase in BVN registration is attributed to the directive issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in December 2023, which ordered all banks to freeze any account not linked with BVN by April 2024. The directive also required all commercial, merchant, non-interest, payment service banks, other financial institutions, and mobile money operators to mandate the BVN or National Identification Number (NIN) for all accounts and wallets.

Despite the increase in BVN enrollment, the number of active bank accounts in Nigeria stood at 219.6 million as of March 2024, suggesting that a significant number of accounts are still not linked to a BVN.

The BVN system was introduced by the CBN in 2014 as a unique identifier for all bank customers in Nigeria, aimed at improving the banking system’s efficiency and reducing financial fraud. The steady increase in BVN enrollment indicates the continued efforts of the CBN and the banking industry to ensure that all bank accounts are properly registered and identified.