NIGERIA: CBN mulls new BVN rules to tackle e-fraud

Collins Nweze

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will soon release a new Bank Verification Number (BVN) guideline and set additional rule that will guide it in watch-listing fraudulent banks customers and tackling e-fraud, the apex bank has said.

CBN Director, Payment System Management, Sam Okojere, who stated this at  the Access Bank Anti-Fraud Week forum held in Lagos,  said there will also be a clear guideline for the operation of Financial Technology (FinTech) companies and Payment Service Banks (PSBs) to make the financial system safer.

Okojere, who was represented by Ademola Adeleke, Assistant Director, Payments System Management, said: “A new BVN guideline should be coming out any moment from now. When the exposure draft is released, I will encourage you to make a suggestion regarding your area of concern”.

He hinted of a stakeholders meeting coming soon where all the people in the ecosystem would come together to rub minds on how to improve the payment system.

“The risk-based supervision framework that will actually take care of Fintechs and PSBs is in the offing, very soon there will be a very clear guideline on that,” Okojere said.

Welcoming the participants, Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe said the workshop was the bank’s avenue of reaching out to members of the community on issues around fraud risk and cyber security through close engagement.

Access bank workshop is in line with the International Fraud Awareness Week which officially started on Sunday, November 17, 2019.

Quoting from a report by Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), he said in 2018, about 89 percent of all financial services fraud in Nigeria happened through Digital channels while only 11 per cent were non-electronic.

In Nigeria, he said customers are culturally not attuned to security issues around digital transactions, even well-educated people run the risk of falling victim to social engineering and identity theft traps. “We must go beyond educating customers on the protection of crucial information to actual data protection and integrity amongst operators and stakeholders,” Wigwe said.

“I am a great believer in collaboration to solve problems. Our collaborative efforts in data protection and customer education is required in countering security threats in Digital payments,” he said further.

Speaking in his opening address  Head of anti-fraud at Access Bank plc, Ifeanyi Emefiele said: “If we must achieve the cashless policy drive by CBN through reduction in the use of cash for all forms of payments in Nigeria, digital payment systems must win the trust of merchants and end users in the economy. Trust in this regard refers to the safety of digital payment systems”.

SOURCE: THE NATION