BVN deadline very close~Banks warns

Firstclass newsline gathered that nigeria Interbank Settlement System
(NIBSS) said that about 21 million bank customers have enrolled for
the Biometric Verification Number (BVN), five days to the October 31st
deadline for enrolment. Meanwhile, the Company said it paid N234
million as electronic payment incentives to 1,497,970 cardholders
through 21 banks between November last year and June 30th this year.
Customers besiege banks as BVN registration deadlines expires
Managing Director/Chief Executive, NIBSS, Mr. Ade Shonubi disclosed
this while addressing journalists at the sidelines of the company's
21st annual general meeting (AGM) in Lagos on Friday. He disclosed
that 12,000 bank customers in Diaspora have so far been enrolled for
the BVN. He said, "We have about 21 million people enrolled for the
BVN; we have over 12,000 enrolled in the Diaspora as at today. "We are
beginning to see the queues building up as people are rushing to beat
the deadline. We are hopeful that at least 80 percent of the banking
industry would have complied by the end of October.
We have about 45 million active accounts, some people obviously have
more than one account, so it is not likely we would have 45 million
people enrolled on BVN." Speaking further on the enrolment of
customers in Diaspora, he said, "As at now we have about 12 centers
that have been opened around the world. We expect in the next few days
another five or six centers will be opened in places like Australia,
Malasia etc.
"After the October 31st deadline, their (Diaspora customers) account
would not be closed, but they would not be allowed to operate it, and
once they do the enrolment and have a BVN, the account will be then
activated". Addressing shareholders at the company's AGM, Chairman of
NIBSS and Deputy Governor, Operations Directorate, Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN), Alhaji Suleiman Barau, provided update on the various
efforts of the company to boost adoption of electronic payment.
He said, "As part of strategies to drive e-payment transaction volume
and further reduce transaction cost for banks, the Company commenced
NIP/NEFT transaction volume discount regime for all banks who apart
from being major customers are also esteemed shareholders of the
Company. Consequently a total sum of Nl64.89million was paid to 21
banks as NIP/NEFT transaction volume discount during the financial
year.
"To further encourage the use of POS as an e-payment channel, the CBN
introduced the bank driven Electronic Payment Incentive Scheme (EPIS)
Refund in November 2014 with NIBSS assigned the responsibility of
implementation. A total sum of N234.02million was paid to 1,497,970
unique card holders through 21 banks as at June 30, 2015. "Gross
earnings for the year were N6.20billion, representing 21% growth over
the N5.13billion recorded in prior year.
Operating expenses increased by 19% to N3.39billion in 2015 (2014:
N2.84billion), while the related Profit Before Taxation (PBT)
witnessed 23% growth to close the year at N2.81billion from
N2.29billion (excluding Express Discount House recovery of
N529million) recorded in the prior year."
Firstclassnewsline.net