In a bid to reduce fraud, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it will remove bank accounts not linked to the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system from the financial system.
Blaise Ijebor, the Director of the Risk Management Department and Chief Risk Officer at CBN, announced this at the Prembly Compliance Breakfast Dialogue on Thursday.
Ijebor explained that cybercriminals exploit three loopholes in the system, including the use of Tier-1 accounts, which can be opened with minimal documentation and are not linked to BVN.
These accounts have low deposit limits and are popular among unbanked populations, making them easy targets for fraudsters.
He added that the CBN was working with the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System to address the issue and plans to move Tier-1 accounts to Tier-2 with the help of agents who can assist with BVN registration.
