E-Financial
NIBSS Approves Standard Guidelines for BVN Matching System
The Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) has issued approved standard operating guidelines for Bank Verification Number (BVN) matching system, mainly for a harmonized way of verifying customer’s identity.
This, the company owned by all deposit money banks said, is to undergird the centralized BVN for a uniform repeatable approach in using the system in the banking industry.
This uniform approach needs to define the routine processes and procedures followed by every organization in the industry that would facilitate consistent conformance to technical and quality system requirements and support data quality.
In a statement to this effect, it said, the NIBSS standard operating procedure for the BVN system would be specific to the banking industry and assist the industry to maintain their quality control and quality assurance processes and ensure compliance with governmental and nongovernmental regulations.
This document is developed by the Bankers’ Committee Operations committee for the project. The Operations Committee is commissioned to champion the development of BVN standards for the banking community.
“The purpose of these standard operating guidelines (SOG) is to prescribe the processes for collecting, updating, linking, storing and using identification data from bank customers.
“This SOG takes into consideration the regulatory requirements as well as established standards and industry best practices. In particular, this SOG describes the operationalization of the approved regulatory framework for BVN operations and watch-list for the Nigerian banking industry,” the statement read in part.
The DMBs presently adopt various methods for Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. The methods used in identifying customers differ from bank to bank because there is no harmonized way of verifying customer’s identity.
In view of this, the financial services sector through the Bankers’ Committee proactively embarked upon the deployment of a centralized bank verification system for the banking industry.
This is to aid the delivery of its services by building a technology system for verification and secure authentication of the identity of bank customers.
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in furtherance of its mandate for the development of the electronic payments system in Nigeria released the exposure draft on the regulatory framework for Bank Verification Number (BVN) operations and watch-list for the Nigerian financial system for your review and comments.
This harmonized system, according to NIBSS, will have the ability to identify a person by a physical characteristic such as fingerprints, facial, voice or retinal scans.
This has had several applications in security and has been used by several organizations. It has become popular because of its many advantages over traditional security systems such as passwords and Personal Identification Numbers (PIN).
The selected identification option for the Nigeria Bank Customer Identification Scheme is fingerprints and facial recognition.
The CBN in conjunction with the bankers’ committee embarked on a shared services program with three key objectives. These are to: improve KYC process within the banking sector; increase access, convenience, service levels across the industry and enable greater financial inclusion and integration of financial services into the economy, with its attendant positive impact on economic development.
The Bankers’ Committee with CBN recognized that payments are a key driver of costs, hence the committee’s focus on payment system transformation.
A major requirement that affects the Nigerian payment system is the need to “Know Your Customer”. Additionally, the need to know your customer is reinforced by the latest anti-money laundering/ counter-terrorism directive and requirements.
NIBSS explained that uniquely identifying bank customers would help immensely to reduce the current administrative costs of the KYC requirement.
This is in addition to the revision of the KYC requirement. More importantly, as the regulators (CBN and others) are focused on transforming the payment system (policy and its processes), a unique identity for customers would impact other areas such as credit check, authenticity and non-repudiation of transactions and fraud management creating more efficiency and effectiveness within the payment system.
“In view of this, the financial services sector through the Bankers’ Committee and the CBN proactively embarked upon the deployment of a centralized bank verification system for the banking industry.
“The BVN matching system will aid in uniquely identifying customers across all banks. This solution will also help in reducing the repudiation of transactions. Verification of identity is possible without resort to documents that may be stolen, lost or altered,” the statement clarified.
On the benefits of this new system, it noted that a person’s fingerprint cannot be shared easily or stolen and no two persons can have an exact match.
Biometrics is easy to use and does not have associated stress of forgotten password/password resets and can never be forgotten as they are physical characteristics of the person; a biometric feature unequivocally attaches a person to an event.
If there is a fraudulent/suspicious transaction, regulatory authorities and banks would have an accurate record of the customer involved among others.
By 8 am on July 9, GTCO Holdings is set to commence trading on the London Stock Exchange.
As the group is set to list all its shares on the London Stock Exchange, becoming the first Nigerian banking entity to do so.
This is as the group launches a public offer of new ordinary shares to raise approximately $100 million on the London Stock Exchange.
The equity offering, which is an accelerated bookbuild and managed by Citigroup, began on July 2 and is to last until July 31.
On July 31, the group announced that it would cancel the listing of its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) on the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Official List.
It will also cancel their admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s main market.
In place of the GDRs, the group will list all its ordinary shares directly.
aims to admit all its shares to the equity shares category for international commercial companies under a secondary listing on the FCA’s Official List.
The shares will also begin trading on the LSE’s main market for listed securities.
According to a regulatory filing on the London Stock Exchange, the net proceeds from the offering will be used to recapitalize GTBank Nigeria.
Based on the prevailing exchange rate of N1,540 to the US dollar, the targeted $100 million equates to approximately N154 billion.
This capital raise is expected to position the Group to fully meet the N500 billion minimum paid-up share capital required by regulators for banks with international licenses.
As of now, both Zenith Bank and Access Holdings have already met—and exceeded—this threshold.
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has handed over new licenses to SanlamAllianz Life and General Insurance Nigeria Ltd at brief ceremony held in Abuja.
Olusegun Omosehin, commissioner for Insurance emphasized the Commission’s commitment to supporting the growth of insurance entities in the country, while ensuring strict compliance with regulatory requirements. He urged the companies to prioritize good corporate governance, stability, and timely claims settlement processes.
The Commissioner reiterated NAICOM’s dedication to removing unnecessary bottlenecks and improving the insurance industry’s overall performance. He expressed confidence that the merger would enhance the companies’ capabilities and contribute to the industry’s growth.
SanlamAllianz recently launched its operations in Nigeria, marking a significant step in the company’s Pan-African expansion.
The launch follows the merger of Sanlam and Allianz’s Nigerian operations, creating a new entity named SanlamAllianz Nigeria.
This joint venture aims to transform the Nigerian insurance landscape by offering enhanced customer experiences, innovative solutions, and improved financial inclusion.
World Bank has approved an additional $65 million loan for Nigeria to support the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, increasing the total financing for the initiative to $145 million.
The approval was granted on June 24, 2025, according to details posted on the World Bank’s website, which also indicates that the project’s status has moved to “active” following the approval.
The SPESSE project, initially launched with an $80 million loan approved in February 2020, aims to strengthen institutional capacity for managing procurement, environmental, and social standards in both the public and private sectors across Nigeria.
The World Bank described the project’s development objective as the establishment of sustainable capacity in these areas.
This latest approval is part of a broader wave of financing expected from the World Bank to Nigeria in 2025.
The bank is scheduled to approve loans totalling $1.61 billion over the coming months, supporting various development initiatives.
Among these is a $300 million loan for the ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project,’ expected to be finalised by the end of July.
This project aims to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in selected local government areas in northern Nigeria.
In September, the World Bank plans to approve four additional loans: a $10.5 million facility to support technical assistance for the Central Bank of Nigeria, a $300 million Health Security Program targeting Western and Central Africa (Nigeria – Phase IV), a $500 million project for building resilient digital infrastructure (BRIDGE), and a $500 million loan under the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth project aimed at promoting sustainable growth and job creation within key agricultural sectors.
Earlier in March 2025, the bank approved three financing requests amounting to $1.13 billion.
These funds are directed towards projects focused on enhancing quality education, boosting household and community resilience, and improving nutrition.
Among the approved loans were $80 million for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 project, $552 million for the HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme, and $500 million for the Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Programme.
In February, the Nigerian government announced expectations of new World Bank loans totalling $2.2 billion for six different projects in 2025. This follows a $1.5 billion loan disbursed in 2024 aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s economic stability and resource mobilisation efforts.
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