CBN Places 6,047 BVNs On Fraud Watch List, BVN Linked Accounts Increase

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has placed some Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) of bank customers on a watch list for fraudulent transactions.

This comes as Nigeria prepares for a very important general election in 2023 following the completion of two terms by incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Nigeria’s financial regulator increased the BVN number of bank customers under the fraudulent transactions watch list by 13.09 per cent from December 2021 to June 2022.

The central bank disclosed this in its Financial Stability June 2022 report published in December 2022. It stated that the number increased to 6,047 in June 2022 from 5,347 in December 2021. 

The CBN report reads that “the number of watch-listed BVNs associated with fraud and deceased persons stood at 6,047 and 11,871, respectively.” 

It was gathered that the total number of enrolled Bank Verification Numbers increased to 54.65 million after 2.72 million enrolled for the BVN between January and June this year, “Also, 2,722,518 BVNs were enrolled, bringing total BVN enrolment to 54,651,086, reflecting an increase of 5.24 per cent over 51,928,568 enrolments at end-December 2021.”

Prime Business Africa learnt that 28 banks and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System were assessed by the apex bank to ascertain compliance with the Regulatory Framework for BVN Operations and Watch-List for the Nigerian Banking Industry in the first half of 2022. “The assessment revealed some infractions and regulatory actions were taken,” the CBN had disclosed. 

Meanwhile, out of 148.46 million active accounts, the number of BVN-linked accounts is 130.57 million according to the Financial Stability June 2022 report. 

“Also, 2,722,518 BVNs were enrolled, bringing total BVN enrolment to 54,651,086, reflecting an increase of 5.24 per cent over 51,928,568 enrolments at end-December 2021.

“The number of accounts linked with BVNs was 130,569,656 out of 148,462,947 active customer accounts, while the number of watch-listed BVNs associated with fraud and deceased persons stood at 6,047 and 11,871, respectively,” The central bank wrote in the report.