Banks BVN enrollments rise to 64.8m in January, says report

A data by Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has disclosed that enrollments for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) by bank account owners in the country increased to 64.8 million in January 2025.
Previous data released by the organization showed that the enrollment database stood at 64 million in November last year.
This indicates that about 800,000 account owners have registered for the BVN between December last year and January this year.
Meanwhile, the number of active bank accounts in the country shows that there is still a very wide gap between the number of accounts and the number of BVN, which is now a compulsory requirement for opening an account.
According to the recent banking data released by NIBSS, the number of active bank accounts in Nigeria stood at 231.1 million in July 2024.
Going by the current number of BVNs, there is still a wide gap between the number of accounts and the registered BVNs.
However, industry analysts believe that the difference may not be much given that multiple accounts can be linked to a single BVN.
According to Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2023 Survey report, 5% (3 million) of banked adults do not have a BVN or NIN.
Last October, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso announced that NIBSS would launch a non-resident BVN platform to enable Nigerians in the diaspora to operate their local bank accounts, run their businesses, and sort out KYC issues with financial institutions from anywhere in the world.
This has, however, not been officially launched despite the timeline of December 2024 given by the CBN Governor.
According to Cardoso, the initiative is part of efforts to ensure that Nigerians irrespective of their location anywhere in the world can participate in the Nigerian economy without any hassles and diversify their businesses.
Currently, Nigerians living in the diaspora must register with OIS Services, VFS Global, or Avantech services which are only available in a few locations in selected countries to get their BVN done.