Nigerian bank account owners in the diaspora will be happy to know that they can now register and link their Bank Verification Number to the existing home accounts.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday announced guidelines for registration of Nigerians in the Diaspora into the BVN initiative. 12 locations abroad have been handpicked to kickstart the exercise:
- London, England
- Leicester, England
- New York, USA
- Atlanta, USA
- Washington DC, USA
- Houston, USA
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Beijing, China
- Shanghai, China
- Guanghou, China
- Dubai, UAE
- New Delhi, India
Nigerian bank customers living in any of these areas have 2 options for registering their BVN:
The first option is that they present themselves physically the offshore branches/subsidiaries of any Nigerian bank for the BVN enrolment. Scanners and other necessary devices are already being deployed to these locations. After registration, customers can proceed to link their BVN to their existing bank accounts via a web portal to be provided by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).
The second option is carry out the exercise through a company called Online Integrated Solution (OIS), at a cost of £30 to be paid by the customer.
In case you don't live close to any of 12 preselected areas, the CBN assures that more locations will be added, albeit on the basis of "demand and online feedback". Remote locations with lower concentration of Nigerians will also be catered for by way of "scheduled sessions for defined periods.”