Nigerian banks are currently pushing their customers to come and link their National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) as the March deadline fixed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approaches.
While many of the customers who received messages from their banks have been complaining that the exercise is a repetition as they had linked all the details before now, Nairametrics gathered that many may have linked their BVN but not the NIN as required by the new directive.
For tier 2 and 3 accounts and wallets, the CBN’s directive said they must be linked with both BVN and NIN, while only tier 1 accounts have the option of BVN and/or NIN.
According to bank sources, some customers who had linked their BVN have also been discovered to have irregularities in their details and they would be required to perfect their records with the banks to avoid being blocked.
Why banks are sending messages
Some bank officials who spoke with Nairametrics under the condition of anonymity said they were only sending messages to tier 2 and 3 customers, who have not linked the two numbers to their accounts.
“This is a directive from the Central Bank, and we have to ensure that our customers are well informed and that is why we are sending messages to those that have not fulfilled these requirements.
“In most cases, you have customers with tier 2 and tier 3 accounts, who have only linked their BVN and not NIN. But the directive is that they must be linked and that is why those who have linked their BVN will still get the same message for BVN and NIN. But what they will need to do is to just link their NIN,” one of the sources said.
“In some cases, you found out that the information in the BVN submitted by the customers and that of their NIN do not tally. This set of customers will need to redo the exercise to regularize their details,” another official added.
