BVN for Forex transactions: Buyers safe, CBN says

The Central Bank of Nigeria, Thursday evening, clarified that the Bank Verification Number, BVN, requirement for foreign exchange transactions poses no security risks to the bank accounts of people purchasing forex, insisting that the policy stays.
The CBN, stated this in a statement issued in Abuja by its spokesman, Alhaji Ibrahim Mu’azu, adding that the arguments by critics of the policy were unfounded and that the requirement would therefore stay.
The statement reads: “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently mandated all banks and licensed Bureaux de Change (BDCs) operating in Nigeria to provide Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) as part of the requirement for the sale of foreign exchange to their customers.
“It has, however, come to our notice that some customers are reluctant in disclosing their BVN to authorised dealers and buyers because of claims that there are attendant risks to the disclosure.

Read also: Experts seek more dialogue over CBN forex policy

“It is, therefore, imperative for the bank to make the following clarifications:
“The adoption of BVN as a condition for the purchase of FOREX is expected to reduce the incidence of multiple purchases, round tripping and illicit transfer of funds, facilitate enforcement of authorized limits of forex sales to end users, sanitize the retail segment of the market and engender policies that will facilitate better allocation of the forex, based on genuine demands.
“The BVN is neither a payment instrument nor an account number and, therefore, could not be used to access any account by unauthorized users. The banks, BDC operators and even regulators use the BVN to validate the identity of a customer using some biometric information such as fingerprints and photograph obtained at the point of enrolment.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the provision of BVN by customers at the point of forex purchase or for any legitimate banking transaction with any of the above named institutions does not attract any security risk. Rather it protects the customer against identify theft.”

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now