Sterling Bank Plc has successfully deployed an innovative solution to enable customers who had previously enrolled for their Bank Verification Number, BVN, with other banks to upload same on its platform via their mobile phones. With this development, customers are now able to seamlessly comply with the regulatory requirement on BVN and save themselves the stress of having to come to the banking hall. In a statement on how the development affects customers, the Bank stated that, “It aims to make the exercise seamless, easy and consistent with the move towards self-service that has become the order of the day. Ultimately, it also enables the Bank comply with the CBN’s position within reasonable time.”
Customers who had already registered with other banks can now register their BVN by dialling *822*3*BVN#. For its Sterling Alternative Finance offering (Non Interest Banking) customers, the code to dial is *822*4*BVN#.
As a customer-focused financial institution poised to enrich lives, the Bank assured that “we continuously strive to improve our processes to ensure the customer experience at every touch point matches our brand promise.” Already, the Bank has distributed BVN cards produced by NIBSS to all the customers who have registered.
Meanwhile, some customers of the Bank have continued to commend the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for extending the deadline of the BVN programme by four months until October 31, 2015.
Gbolahan Bello, a customer banking with a branch of the Bank in Lagos noted that if the initiative was not extended, it would have effectively shut out many Nigerians who could not enrol in the scheme and would have been denied of banking services. He regretted that many Nigerians did not take the exercise seriously at the beginning until the last minute and hoped that many Nigerians will now take advantage of the window that the postponement offered to enrol in the scheme before the new closing date.
Similarly, Modupe Solarin, a sales executive in Lagos also considered the figure quoted by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, EFINA, an organization committed to promoting Financial Inclusion in the country, which puts the number of Nigerians who registered before the postponement at 14 million as disturbing. Her words: “The Agency said only 14 million Nigerians registered out of the expected 28.5 million. This is disturbing. I hope that we will all make use of the opportunity that the extension has provided to do the needful”.
The CBN had on Tuesday, June 30, 2015, via a circular with reference number BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/02/08, and signed by the Director of Banking and Payment Systems Department, CBN, Dipo Fatokun, announced the extension of the deadline for the biometric registration programme from June 30, 2015 to October 30, 2015.
CBN in the circular said the extension became necessary in order to afford customers of deposit money banks the opportunity to participate in the enrolment exercise adding that the registration exercise had elicited a lot of interest from customers who had been rushing to the banks to register towards the end of the June 30, 2015 deadline.