Applicants need court order to access BVN information – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said the provision of a valid court order will be a prerequisite for the release of Bank Verification Number information to applicants. The apex bank said this on Tuesday in its amendment of the Regulatory Framework for the BVN Operations and Watch List for the Nigerian Financial System. The Director, Banking and Payments System Department, CBN, Dipo Fatokun, in a circular issued to banks, mobile money operators and payment solution providers, said access to the BVN information would be subject to the approval of the CBN after the provision of a valid court order. He said the circular, which would take immediate effect, was an amendment to the earlier circular on the regulatory framework for the BVN operations dated October 18, 2017. “Section 1.6 of the framework: Eligibility for Access to the BVN, which stated, ‘The following entries may have access to the BVN information, subject to the approval of the CBN’, is now hereby amended to read thus: ‘The following entries may have access to the BVN information, after providing a valid court order, subject to the approval of the CBN’,” the circular said. Meanwhile, the CBN said that it had injected the sum of $210m into the interbank foreign exchange market to meet customers’ requests in various segments of the market. The apex bank said it offered $100m to authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market, while the Small and Medium Enterprises segment got the sum of $55m. It said customers needing forex for invisible things such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance were also allocated the sum of $55m. The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor, assured Nigerians that the bank would continue to intervene in the interbank forex market in line with its pledge to sustain liquidity in the market and maintain stability. According to him, the CBN will not renege on its promise to manage the forex with a view to reducing the country’s import bills and halting depletion of its foreign reserves.]]>