More than 48 per cent of deposit money bank (DMB) accounts in the country are still without Bank Verification Number (BVN) with 32.2 per cent of the bank accounts being dormant, as total Number of BVN issued stands at 27.511 million.
According to latest data provided by the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) the custodian of banking industry data, total bank accounts in the country stands at 95.25 million as at November 2016.
Of this figure, only 64.61 million accounts are active while the number of accounts with BVN stands at 49.14 million. This shows that 48.4 per cent of total bank accounts and 24 per cent of active bank accounts in the country are still without BVN.
Number of accounts linked with BVN had risen from 48.14 million in October last year to 49.14 million in November 2016, the latest data given by NIBSS. However this was a considerable increase when compared to 21.2 million accounts which had been linked to BVN as at November 2015.
In a country of over 182 million citizens, total bank accounts rose by 13 per cent year-on-year and 0.9 per cent month-on-month. Total bank accounts in the country had grown from 84.26 million in November 2015 and 94.39 million October 2016.
The increase in the number of active accounts had been slower rising by 10 per cent compared to 58.71 million accounts in November 2015 and 0.76 per cent compared to 64.12 million accounts which were held by the end of October 2016.
Meanwhile, more Nigerians are adopting the cashless policy as the volume and value of transactions done via the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform and Point of Sale (POS) terminals rose considerably in November last year.
The volume of transaction done on NIP rose to 19,724,550 in November 2016 compared to 16,489,360 recorded in October 2016 and 6,989,940 recorded in November of 2015. The value of the transactions rose by 89.8 per cent year-on-year from N2.18 billion in November of 2015 to N4.15 billion in November of 2016. Last year October, the value of NIP transactions stood at N3.65 billion.
There was also an increased use of POS for payments as the volume of payments done through the channel more than doubled. It rose by 119.5 per cent from 3,177,593 in 2015 to 6,976,520 in 2016.
Source : Leadership