CBN ANNOUNCES NEW BVN RULES TAKING EFFECT MAY 1ST
DM CHIDIEBERE@michaelchidieberedavid863694
10 days ago
The CBN introduced, new rules, to be effective May 1, 2026, and banks are expected to obey.
The new rule will restrict how often Nigerians can change the phone number linked to their Bank Verification Number (BVN), limiting the update to only once in a lifetime.
Because of the initial ease in changing phone number linked to a customer BVN, fraudsters often target mobile numbers to gain access to bank accounts through SIM swap schemes or social engineering tactics. By limiting the frequency of phone number changes, the CBN hopes to close a major loophole that criminals exploit to hijack financial accounts.
Also the CBN issued a new order to deposit money banks (e.g UBA, Zenith, Firstbank) to improve the acceptance and reliability of foreign-issued payment cards in the country.
This means that tourists and Nigerians returning from the diaspora (abroad), can now access funds easily with international cards(USD, Eur).
There is something the CBN introduced called the TEMPORARY WATCHLIST. This is a list where a suspicious BVN can be added to for a close monitoring.
“A BVN may remain on this temporary watchlist for a maximum period of 24 hours, during which the BVN owner shall be contacted,”
This balanced approach lets banks act fast without immediately freezing accounts or disrupting legitimate customers. The measure would cut wrongful restrictions while keeping fraudsters in check.
BVN registration is now restricted to individuals aged 18 and above.
Access to the entire BVN database remains exclusive to CBN-licensed financial institutions, with the regulator reserving the right to approve exceptions under existing laws. It means that only licensed financial institutions e.g mortgage banks, deposit money banks, insurance banks would have access to our BVN, while CBN would still have the right to approve non licensed financial institutions e.g some fintech etc under the Nigeria banking laws if there be need.
ONE DEVICE PER BANKING APP
Logging into your banking app on a new device will automatically deactivate access on the previous one and trigger additional authentication checks.
TRANSACTION LIMIT
Customers activating their banking apps on a new device will face a temporary transaction limit of ₦20,000 within the first 24 hours.
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DM CHIDIEBERE
