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  • Cash, digital payments must co-exist, says NIBSS

    Cash, digital payments must co-exist, says NIBSS

    • CBN emphasises infrastructure

    The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has reiterated the crucial role of cash in the payment system, stressing that cash must co-exist with the e-payment services.

    Speaking at the 2026 Committee of Heads of Bank Operations Conference (CHBO) Conference in Lagos, Executive Director, Business and Products, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Ngover Nwankwo, said inclusion must keep pace with innovation as digital payments expand.

    “Our focus is balancing innovation with inclusion, ensuring no Nigerian is left behind as digital payment adoption grows,” Nwankwo said.

    She stressed that cash remains vital and cannot be eliminated, insisting both cash and digital payments must coexist within Nigeria’s economy.

    “Cash and digital platforms must work together, protecting those who rely on cash while offering secure, efficient services to digital users,” she said.

    Nwankwo commended banks for operational improvements, noting cash availability in December 2025 was largely seamless with minimal public complaints.

    She also highlighted biometric authentication, allowing customers to request and verify cards using fingerprints without extensive documentation.

    Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed plans to introduce a new regulatory policy that would require banks’ prior investments in cash withdrawal and ATM infrastructure to secure card issuance approvals.

    Read Also: CAC, NIBSS unveil API to deliver specialised services

    The policy shift, currently under review before announcement was disclosed by CBN Governor, Mr. Yemi Cardoso, through his Special Adviser, Mr. Fatai Karim.

    He said the move would sanitise debit card issuance and Automated Teller Machine operations across Nigerian banks, targeting persistent cash access challenges.

    The apex bank said the initiative will align the number of cards issued by banks with deployed ATM infrastructure to curb congestion, downtime, and uneven cash availability nationwide.

    The CBN noted that recurring ATM failures and cash shortages continue to undermine confidence in electronic payment channels despite the rapid expansion of digital transactions across the banking system.

    The apex bank said banks will no longer be allowed to issue massive volumes of cards without corresponding investment in ATM and cash withdrawal infrastructure.

    “Very soon, the Central Bank will be coming up with another policy to sanitise and improve the situation, particularly around how many cards banks issue relative to the number of ATMs they support.

    “Certainly the next few months; once the engagement is concluded with other stakeholders, CBN will make an announcement. When cash access fails—whether due to prolonged ATM outages or uneven distribution—the credibility of the entire payment system is weakened,” the CBN stated.

    Karim said the CBN is engaging industry stakeholders and expects the policy to take effect within months, possibly before the end of the second quarter.

    Nigeria’s banks have aggressively issued debit cards over the years to support financial inclusion and digital payments, but ATM deployment has lagged behind.

    Card issuance expanded faster than ATM networks and cash logistics investments.

    Customers frequently experience long queues, empty machines, and failed transactions. Informal cash channels, such as POS operators, have filled gaps at higher costs.

    These structural gaps have persisted despite regulatory efforts to modernise payments and improve cash circulation nationwide.

    The proposed policy is expected to reshape banks’ card issuance strategies and accelerate investment in ATM infrastructure, uptime, and cash management.

    Banks will face tighter scrutiny over card issuance volumes and ATM deployment. Customers are expected to benefit from improved ATM availability and reduced transaction friction.

    Stronger infrastructure could reduce reliance on informal cash channels. The CBN said restoring credibility in cash access and electronic payments is critical to financial system stability and public trust.

    The CBN says cash remains relevant despite digital growth, particularly in informal markets and rural communities.

    Currency in circulation grew by 4.6 per cent in December 2025, compared with December 2024 figures, the CBN data showed.

    Cash demand rises sharply when electronic channels fail. Reliable digital channels help reduce pressure on physical cash.

    The apex bank insists its objective is not to eliminate cash but to strike a balance between cash and digital payments, ensuring Nigerians can always access cash while building confidence in electronic channels across the country during everyday transactions and emergencies nationwide.

  • CAC, NIBSS unveil API to deliver specialised services

    The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) have partnered to unveil an Application Programming Interface (API) to deliver specialized services to all sectors of the economy.

    The API system unveiled by the commission will be working with a few selected private sector called super agents to retrieve data from the CAC data base at a fee, the API before now was classified and was only available to few government agencies, including the law enforcement agencies.

    The Registrar-General, CAC Hussaini Ishaq Magaji disclosed this during the unveiling of API in Abuja highlighting the Product Differentiation for customers satisfaction.

    He said: “The API was aimed at strengthening their investigatory responsibilities in Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) processes in the country. As it stands it is being offered to a few selected private sector organizations that have indicated interest and demonstrated capacity to deliver the specialised services.

    “The API is sensitive to the requirements of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023, with identifiable information protected by the Act such as residential address, email address, personal telephone numbers and date of birth which might be restricted.

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    Few organisations like NIBSS, Moniepoint Opay, Oasis Management Company limited are pacesetters pioneer super agents in this field.”

    Magaji said the government knows the credibility of NIBSS, saying: “They are the source of BVN all over the country”.

    This is telling Nigerians that embassies, banks can achieve all the services they require through NIBSS and also generate status report of any company through this medium.

    Speaking at the launch of the CAC integration service, Ngover Ihyembe-Nwankwo, Executive Director, Business Development NIBSS Plc commended the CAC for demonstrating true partnership and a shared commitment to national progress, stating that, the public launch of this service not only democratise access to data verification but does so with full incorporation of data protection, security, and operational efficiency at its core.

  • Financial inclusion: NIMC, NIBSS, others roll out digital cards with multiple wallets

    Financial inclusion: NIMC, NIBSS, others roll out digital cards with multiple wallets

    The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the Nigeria Interbank Settlement Systems (NIBSS), AfriGO and other stakeholders are set to roll out digital cards with multiple wallets to drive financial inclusion and improve Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    The digital cards with multiple wallets would allow Nigerians to have access to government services in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government, while it would also provide platforms for students to access government loans. 

    Already, Nigerian farmers captured under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, (FMAFS) have embraced the digital cards for government services in areas of provision of agric loans, seedlings and other inputs that would improve food production and security. 

    According to the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, the biometric NIMC-enabled cards have multiple features to address the socio-economic needs of Nigerians in line with the 8 point Agenda of President Bola Tinubu. 

    Read Also: Unsafe abortions fuel maternal deaths in Nigeria, says LIFE

    Coker-Odusote, who addressed newsmen at the headquarters of NIMC in Abuja on plans regarding the launch of the cards, was flanked by the Managing Director/CEO of NIBSS, Mr Premier Oiwoh,  the Managing Director/CEO of AfriGO, Mrs Ebehije Momoh and the Managing Director of Data Mining Company, Mr Femi Akande. 

    She said the stakeholders were brought together to explain the different benefits associated with the digital cards to Nigerians and the general impact it would have on the economy as President Tinubu hoped to drive his welfare programmes using digital identity verification as a major platform.

    The NIMC boss said the multiple purpose cards would be available to citizens, home and abroad and legitimate residents who could use the cards for various transactions, especially payments of water and electricity bills, transportation services, and shopping, among others. 

    The cards, she explained, could be used off line and online to provide services for unbanked citizens in rural areas and bring on board those whose businesses required government support for survival, noting that with such opportunities, Nigerians would need no god father to access government services and support. 

    Coker-Odusote said the digital cards which come with various security features cannot be forged as the biometric information of owners are embedded in them, emphasising that they were made to address current needs of government to ensure that there are no ghost beneficiaries of government palliatives, loans and other benefits. 

    She assured that the cards would turn around the economy by improving revenue generation and the country’s GDP as states governments and the private sectors would be part and parcel of it.

    Speaking on behalf of other stakeholders, the CEO of AfriGO, Mrs Ebehije Momoh said the launch of the cards would change the narratives for the country’s economy as it would ensure that the flow of money remained within the economy. 

    Mrs Momoh said: “The digital card is a domestic solution to drive financial inclusion and provide cost effectiveness and transparency within the systems. It would ensure data sovereignty and autonomy, and we all know that data is significant to improve our economy. 

    “This card will help reduce cost, especially dollar given to banks. Domestic payments are important to support welfare and social interventions services of government, so it will help drive cashless policy and ensure that our monies remain within the economy. 

    “We have about 26 banks already issuing the cards and it is hoped that more would come on board. Nigeria is the first country to come up with this innovation, and surely it would enhance micro-medium enterprises across the country.”

  • Unity Bank wins EPIS award

    Unity Bank Plc has been named “Most Extensive Fraud Channel Coverage” at the Electronic Payments Incentive Scheme (EPIS) fourth  Efficiency Award 2019 held in Lagos at the weekend. The award was organized by the  Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

    The bank won the award in recognition its outstanding compliance in fraud and cybercrime reporting and for being the financial institution with the most fraud channel coverage on the Central Antifraud System in 2018.

    The CBN has a central anti-fraud channel which monitors the number of fraud cases and the percentage of such cases reported. Not only was Unity Bank rated as the Bank that is most compliant in fraud reporting, the bank was also acknowledged for deploying efficient tools for monitoring fraud across all her electronic channels.

    The CBN and NIBSS praised the bank for promoting e-payment system and fraud prevention initiative in a manner that boost market confidence on CBN’s cashless policy.

    Receiving the Award, the Head of e-Business, Unity Bank Plc, Oluremi Tinuolu-Gabriel, commended EPIS, NIBSS and CBN for the award of recognition for the Bank which he noted as being special and remarkable. He added that “this honour is being received in a category where the Management of the bank has been very passionate not only with compliance directives but also to support with constant ICT infrastructural upgrade as well as effective information and cyber security practice to deliver optimum performance”.

    For the bank, the award is a motivation to all end users of e-payment channels who have kept faith in this journey to sustaining the cashless initiative. As a Bank, the award also inspires us to continually raise the bar of all compliance standards in fraud reporting.

  • NIBSS extends POS transaction timeout to 45 seconds

    The Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) yesterday extended Point of Sale (POS) transactions timeout from 15 second to 45 seconds.

    NIBSS Acting Managing Director, Niyi Ajao, who disclosed this during a press briefing in Lagos, said the agency was aware of the poor transaction network going on in the country, and pains it has caused to e-payment users.

    He said the move was to improve on poor network quality for e-payment transactions by extending the time it takes to complete a transaction, especially, POS and restore confidence in the e-payment system.

    Ajao said that NIBSS facilitated 285 e-payment transactions in 2018, and that the transaction volume will hit 600 million by this year end.

    He explained that transaction timeout is the total turn-around-time (TAT) for a POS transaction cycle from the time it is received from a POS to the time a response is sent back to the terminal. “This TAT had been configured at 15 seconds in agreement with banks and processors. However, delayed responses from Issuers after this timeout in recent times could cause authorised debits not to return to the terminal before the set TAT, hence the adjustment to 45 seconds,” he said.

    He said there has been several meetings between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), banks and Payment Service Providers on the need to improve transaction quality and provide seamless e-payment services to customers.

    According to the NIBSS boss, the adjustment to the timeout will be done on March 22, and is meant to reduce the number of failed transactions in the country.

    He said the reversal for failed transactions is one area that NIBSS will henceforth, pay more attention to, so as to strengthen e-payment users confidence in the system.

    “Whenever there is a transaction decline the system is supposed to reverse the transaction such that a debited cardholder would receive a reversal credit. Delays on reversal could be caused by platform downtime, network issues at processor level or delayed responses and Issuer/Switch Inoperative – Processor or bank is not available to receive the reversal even when it’s transmitted by NIBSS,” he said.

    He said that NIBSS has taken remedial actions in fixing the rising e-payment challenges in the country, by fixing all platform application issues by  February 21; network remediation carried out with concerned Processor and implementation of a secondary process whereby all reversals for any business day are re-transmitted between 10pm and 12 mid-night to return credit back to cardholders through their banks/Processors by March 22.

     

     

  • ABCON Live Run Portal for BDCs, CBN, NIBSS, NFIU integration ready

    The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) will tomorrow launch its Live Run Automation Portal in Lagos. The ABCON Automation Live Run project is expected to automate all Bureaux De Change (BDCs) Operations with those of Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to improve the level of compliance of the BDCs with set regulations.

    Speaking to financial reporters ahead of the portal launch, which will hold at the PISTISHUB, 1A Ikorodu road, Behind Mobil Filling Station, Maryland, Lagos, ABCON President, Aminu Gwadabe, said the group had secured the CBN’s no- objection approval to launch the Live Run  portal.

    The approval, he said, reaffirmed the regulator’s commitment to a transparent and viable forex market where stakeholders’ interests are protected.

    Gwadabe said the world is going digital, and BDC operators under his leadership are committed to staying ahead of the competition by deploying time-tested technology to deliver effective services to customers.

    He said the objective is to make Live Run portal enhance BDCs compliance with set regulations and promote market integrity.

    According to him, the portal will sustain transparent transactions in the BDC corridor, boost the morale of its members and ensure their continuous operations.

    The ABCON chief said the group had fully upgraded its Information Communication Technology (ICT) platforms, to achieve full digitisation of BDCs operations in line with its goal of sustaining transparent operation and prompt rendition of weekly returns to regulatory agencies.

    He said the group has also launched a website, the www.naijabdcs.com, to serve as a reliable platform for local and international investors, who will rely on it to access uniform forex rate across states, regions and markets nationally.

    According to Gwadabe, ABCON coordination journey of automation and digitisation of BDC’s processes started in 2016 with the launch of automation platform named www.abconng.org.ng.

    “The project came with three layers and stages. First layer is on online real time registration of our members with a success rate of over 4,100 BDCs registered nationwide. This layer is to enable our members conduct their membership registration from any of their location without coming physically to ABCON Secretariat.

    “The second layer bothers on automation of ABCON’s operational process, book keeping, issuance of receipt, preparation of accounts, balance sheets, ledgers and sales/purchase registers. The most important of this layer is the online real time rendition of returns to regulatory agencies.

    “Another important feature of this layer is the BDCs on boarding and integration of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) platform on the NIBSS portal for verifications and validation of clients’ BVNs, which is a most vital requirement forex sale.

    “Of special note is also the integration of our platform to immigration platform for the verifications of international passport. Already, we are in advance engagement with the Irish technology experts for the achievement of this idea. The final layer is the one that excites me a lot and has to do with a trading platform for BDCs in Nigeria. Our technical experts in India, Poland are in advance stage of completion for onward submission to the CBN,” he added.

  • NIBSS re-launches mCash

    The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) has re-launchedmCashto replace physical cash in payment.

    mCash is a mobile payment system for making low-value retail payments designed to extend e-payment options to low-income buyers and sellers who deal in cash. The cashless initiative was first launched in 2016.

    Speaking during the event held yesterday in Lagos, Managing Director/CEO NIBSS, AdeShonubi said cash-less banking promotes financial inclusion.

    “We talk about cashless, we talk about financial inclusion. Really, all those conversations are about how to get people to put cash in their pocket and find other ways of doing financial transactions. It involves two kinds of people – the buyer and the seller, and both have to be comfortable for it to work.So far, as banks, we have done a good job, but not a great job. When you have so many people that do banking services and when you have so many transactions that are done over various platforms that we have invested a lot of money on, majority are still being done as cash,” he said.

    He said the idea behind the Mcash was to make it easier and replace the use of physical cash. “And for that to happen, we needed to sit down with a number of parties because every individual element in the chain has a part to play.But we needed to get across to the customers who are the consumers and that required the channels that only the network providers could put down. And collectively, the network providers, the banks and the various companies came together and the idea of Mcash came in,” he said.

    Continuing, he said: “Many times you hear people talk about unique solutions in the world, but over the last two years we have been creating our own unique blend of what is possible in the world.For Mcash, we would not charge any fee for the USSD. The banks said they would give access to their customers and because it is targeted at the lower value of transactions, we had to do away with some fees that we normally charge people”.

    Managing Director/CEO Diamond Bank, UzomaDozie, who was represented by the Deputy Managing Director Diamond Bank, Mrs Caroline Anyanwu said the mCash leverages on mobile USSD technology. “So, it is really not like the mobile app where you need to have a smart phone, any phone can do it just as well.The most important thing a lot of businesses are looking at is the immediate receipt of payment.Prior to the Mcash, users of payment solutions face a number of charges. There is technology phobia, where people say they can’t use technology”.

    Speaking at the re-launch of the platform in Lagos, MTN Nigeria CEO, FerdiMoolman, represented by the General Manager, Mobile Financial Services, MTN, Mr Usoro Usoro, described the initiative as the outcome of what can be achieved when organisations work together for a common goal, to serve.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Stamp duty: NIBSS as Nigeria’s supra-state?

    Until my colleague Segun Ayobolu’s April 21 piece appropriately titled Stamp duty impunity, I could have sworn that the managers of the national economy have  finally rid the system of the more manifest oddities in our public finance system.  What with the operations of the Treasury Single Account and its clean sweep of every kobo of public revenue from the filchy hands of officials into the national coffers.  Yours truly was one of those who celebrated the measure designed to snuff the life out of the islands of mini-governments operating as parastatals; entities whose expenditure outlays, sometimes exceeded those of states, and yet couldn’t be bothered by the niceties of parliamentary appropriation not to talk of remitting their operating surpluses to the national coffers.

    You know the familiar culprits – the mini-federations within the Nigerian state. For obvious reasons, I will leave out the apex bank – which insists on conflating autonomy with independence and so believes erroneously that it could dispense as much as it pleases from the piggy bank.

    That cannot be said of the national oil corporation – the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation – that one that routinely sends the crumbs to the national exchequer only after it has had its fill. Or the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), a behemoth which although spins billions if not trillions but ensures that nothing ever gets pass the gatekeepers – until perhaps when our lawmakers on self-help sorties, come calling for them to open the tap. Then is the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), which until recently ran errands for a certain Tompolo and other big boys from the Niger Delta rather than attend to its primary business of tending the country’s blue economy.

    TSA which ensures that every kobo of public fund is captured and pooled into the piggy bank is supposed to have changed all of that. Unfortunately, we may have failed to reckon with the cowboys in the financial services sector – smart Alecs trained in the art of subversion, of whom no rules are held as sacrosanct and niceties of transparency and fair-play are luxuries to be cynically dispensed with.

    Thanks to Ayobolu’s illuminating piece, we ought to by now, know better than to ignore the cabal of ruthless operatives. Let me refresh if only in the interest of those who did not read the piece and the report he alluded to. To paraphrase Ayobolu, the story in two parts started when a certain Nigerian, Tola Adekoya, saw an opportunity in the then moribund Stamp Duties Act, 2004. His outfit, the School of Banking Honours (SBH), SBH then approached the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) on April 20, 2012, to see how it could partner with it to boost its internally generated revenue by affixing adhesive stamp on banking receipts as provided for in the law. Armed with a Masters Services Agreement with NIPOST on September 14, 2012, SBH then approached the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for authorization to engage Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and other qualified institutions as collecting agents. The apex bank, convinced of the immense possibilities in the partnership, gave the nod On December 3, 2012. Then, on October 15, 2015, the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) issued the SBH a Copyright Certificate (No. LW1023) affirming its copyright ownership of the initiative on stamp duty collection.

    As Ayobolu would further have us know, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) collected the stamp duty on all cheques with a value above N500,000 something it had done since 1993, although there was no evidence it remitted same into the federation account as required by law. With SBH came the expansion of the scope of the Stamp Duty to encompass all gamut of banking transaction ranging from manual to e-transfers.

    Today, SBH reckons that the unremitted revenue to the Federation Account is in the region of N20 trillion – monies which ought to have been remitted into the distributable pool to be shared between the federal, states and the local governments. Call it double jeopardy if you may –not only is the federation account denied access to the huge fund probably lying idle somewhere, the agents – SBH is equally denied fruits of its toil. And to imagine what difference the huge funds could make at a time of unprecedented infrastructure deficit.

    The good news: the president has since directed the monetary authorities to collect every kobo and remit same into the federation account. The directive is said to cover – SBH, the labourers for their toil. The bad news is that the president’s express directive, which traverses the whole gamut of constitutionalism, sanctity of contracts and proprietary interests, has not been carried out.

    That was the summary of the story as told by my colleague.

    So where is the money? Could the money be with the individual banks – the collecting agencies or their alter ego, NIBSS through which all transactions must necessarily pass through? Does that in any way confer the custodial role on a private company? And under what authority? Would that not strike a dart at the heart of the TSA?

    To be sure, we know what NIBSS does – it holds the franchise for inter-bank payments in order to remove potential bottlenecks associated with inter-bank funds transfer and settlement. That is what their website says. A limited liability company owned by all licensed banks including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), it operates the Nigeria Automated Clearing System (NACS) which facilitates the electronic clearing of cheques and other paper based instruments, electronic funds transfer, Automated Direct Credits and Automated Direct Debits.  None of the roles as far as one can see, makes the company a revenue collecting agency of the federal government. Even if was so appointed – which seems extremely doubtful  at least from a constitutional point of view– it still has to explain why the funds, which belong exclusively to the distributable pool is floating around at a time most of its beneficiaries are struggling to pay salaries and pensions. Or are we dealing with a supra-agency – an institution above the strictures of state control?

    Could the money be with the apex bank? That again seems doubtful. For much as it can claim to sits atop the financial system, it remains at best an agent to multiple principals – the federal, states and the local councils – the beneficial owners of whatever accrues to the distributable account and all in accordance with guidelines established by the constitution.

    Which again takes us to the earlier question – where is the money?  If only to affirm the sanctity of the saying that the labourer deserves his wages, Nigerians must help Adekoya and his SBH find the money. How much does the Nigerian Governors Forum know? And what have they done about it?

    While we dwell on what that quantum of fund can achieve in a clime like ours, we must also think of the alternative to which the funds could be put –when left in the hand of rogue operatives.  It is the latter prospects that must be seen as truly frightening.

     

    • The column proceeds on vacation.

  • NIBSS: Nigeria’s payment system most secured

    Nigeria’s payment system is the best in the world in terms of security, provider of shared platforms for financial transactions in the country, the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) has said.

    Its Business Development, Niyi Ajao, who spoke on the sideline of the launch of Tech Fest by Diamond Bank in Lagos, said the growth in mobile transaction in the financial sector in the country has been phenomenal.

    According to him, this development is largely due to the security of the transactions, adding that globally, Nigeria’s payment system is the best because of the different of layers security.

    He said: “Today, everybody is moving towards the mobile phone for payment and with emphasis on USSD and the reason is very clear, with USSD you don’t need to pay for data on the phone. So, the issue of not having internet connection is not an inhibiting factor. With mobile banking application, you need the internet but with USSD, you do not. You just do * a number and $ and the transaction is done. Everybody, even with a feature phone, the simplest phone that costs as little as N2,000, you can do a USSD and that is where we see a lot of transactions in banking moving into now.

    “Payment is moving into that and it’s understanding-people want convenience, everybody wants convenience and that is why we are challenging innovators, we are challenging everybody in the system to continually look for ways to release services on the USSD on the mobile phone because experience has shown that that is where the people prefer to really don their transactions.”

    He said one thing that needed to be admitted and agreed on is that no matter the means of payment chosen, there is always the risk of losing cash if care is not taken.

    “Even if you go by cash, the risk of losing money is always there if you don’t apply by the basic security principles. If I put my cash inside my purse and I don’t keep my purse well, pick-pockets will pick it.  So, for all these other new channels, including the mobile phone, it has its own risk but the beauty of it is that every customer, everyone that abides by the basic principles, would not lose money.

    “For instance, with the mobile phone payment, even if you steal my phone, to complete a payment process you need my PIN (personal identification number). So, I can’t lose money, if I don’t release my PIN except some fraudsters are just coming to trick me to give them my PIN because under the guise that they want to maintain my account. I should be intelligent and I should know that I shouldn’t release my PIN to anybody. Even if somebody calls me on the phone and says he’s my banker, I shouldn’t release my PIN, I would not. If you abide by all these things, you will not lose money. At NIBSS, we see exactly what is going on in the industry.

    “Check all over the world, Nigeria has one of the most secured payment platforms because we have many layers of protection. Apart from the PIN, we have protection on the network, on the application layer and then we now have the BVN (bank verification number). Even if somebody steals your money, the system is there for us to know who stole your money because you can’t do any transaction without your BVN. So people should be free to imbibe all these new payment systems,” Ajao said.

  • Customers without BVN shouldn’t be banked, says NIBSS

    Customers without BVN shouldn’t be banked, says NIBSS

    The Managing Director, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) Ade Shonubi, yesterday said customers that are yet to secure their Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) should not be allowed to conduct banking transactions.

    Speaking yesterday at the launch of ficannews.com in Lagos, the NIBSS chief said those without BVNs should have no business with banks. He said there are many people with accounts but are afraid to go and identify themselves, which indicates that such customers may not be real.

    BVN involves capturing of customers’ biometric data such as  fingerprint, signature among others which is coordinated by the CBN and banks in collaboration with NIBSS.

    “After more than one year, and you have not operated your account because of BVN, and you are still comfortable, it is either you do not need that account or you are not real. It also indicates that there must be something wrong with such customer,” Shonubi said.

    The BVN project is also undertaken in collaboration with the Bankers Committee and remains a strategy of ensuring effectiveness of Know Your Customer (KYC) principles. Each bank customer is given a unique identity across the banking industry, including bank customers in Diaspora.

    He reiterated the rising significance of digital or online media in financial news reporting, saying it is where the future lies. He said the group has responded to the new trend in news reporting, and that he expects the website to provide timely, comprehensive and financial intelligence report on businesses and economy.

    Shonubi, who unveiled the website, said it was also expected to be the focal point of financial news publication locally and internationally. He said the new generation of readers rely so much on online publications, and will find the platform a reliable ally in meeting their daily news needs.

    “Any organisation that refuses to go online will die like dinosaur. The online is the future of journalism and I am glad that FICAN understands that fact. Building the website is key but keeping it running is equally important. We will keep the website running for the next one year. It is important that the website sustains its attractiveness and educative qualities to its audience,” Shonubi said.

    Also speaking on mobile money, the NIBSS chief said  mobile money have not achieved what the CBN set them up to achieve.

    “They were set up to encourage financial inclusion, but they are giving excuses but we believe that in the next few years, more people will embrace mobile banking,” he added.

    President and Chief Executive Officer, VAS2Nets, a technology firm that built the website, Ayo Stuffman, said it was developed based on international best practices and will meet the daily and hourly news needs of the public.

    He said the company was happy to celebrate with FICAN for the milestone which he believes would be sustained.