CBN Directs Banks to Allow Deposit of Cheques into Savings Account

Savings account customers with Bank Verification Number can now deposit checks to their accountsThe Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a circular to all banks and other financial institutions has said that savings account customers (with Bank Verification Number, BVN) can now deposit cheques to their accounts and to begin to embed Bank Verification Number, BVN, in payment card

The Circular signed by Dipo Fatokun, the Director Banking and Payments Systems Department, was sent to all banks and financial institutions yesterday, said: 

 “The CBN in furtherance of its efforts at strengthening the Nigerian payments system hereby issues the following directives:

“The removal of fixed interest rate on credit cards; Discontinuation of actual address verification in account opening for customers with customers with the BVN; Banks should begin to embed BVN biometric data in payment cards issued henceforth, to facilitate offline BVN verification and biometric based customer authentication on such payment devices as Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, Point of Sales Terminals, POS, Kiosks, etc.”

Further instructions to the banks include: “Approval of BVN Watch-listing modalities and release by CBN of necessary Credit Risk Management System (CRMS) data, to facilitate its use for enriching the BVN watch-list; savings account customers with BVN should be allowed to deposit cheques worth not more than N2,000,000.00 (Two million naira) into their accounts, per customer, per day.‎”