THE Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) has urged all bank customers to ensure they were verified to check fraudulent acts in banks.
This is contained in statement credited by Mr Ade Shonubi, Managing Director of NIBSS in Lagos.
The statement reiterated that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) initiative would help to boost retail credit in the banking industry, identify and blacklist fraudulent customers.
It explained that once banks were able to identify and blacklist fraudulent customers, they would be encouraged to extend loans to customers who were credit worthy.
According to the statement, there is the need to check the increasing rate of delinquent borrowers.
Reports state that NIBSS is responsible for the implementation of the BVN in the country.
The BVN is aimed at protecting bank customers and to further strengthen the Nigerian banking system.
Although the registration is ongoing in banks, the initiative will be implemented in June.
The statement noted that apart from the challenge of identifying customers, another hindrance to retail credit was the deliberate efforts of some Nigerians who evade loan repayment.
It pointed out that the BVN would address that problems by helping to identify and distinguish fraudulent Nigerians from law-abiding and honest citizens.
the statement said: “‘When the BVN project came up, the three key things were to identify customers, identify them uniquely across banks and across accounts.
“So, once you have BVN, even if you have 10 bank accounts, it is the same BVN that will be tied to the bank accounts, thereby, blacklisting people committed to financial infractions.