By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Finance) – A total of 29.9 million bank customers have registered under the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise, the managing director of the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System plc, (NIBSS) Adebisi Shonubi has said.
The figure is about a 100 per cent increase from the 14 million customers whose accounts are linked to their BVN.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with all Nigerian banks, had in February 2014 launched a centralised biometric identification system, tagged BVN as a further security measure in the banking system.
Shonubi, who spoke at a oneday summit on Fintech organised by Kantar TNS Group in Lagos, also said that an estimated four million new bank customers will join the banking industry this year.
This is about 13 per cent increase, which would bring the total number of bank customers based on registered BVN to about 34 million. Shonubi, who shared some insights at the Fintech summit, regarding bank customers from the perspective of NIBSS data and information collected – statistics expected to assist Fintech operators in designing products for bank customers – also put at 83.2 million, the total number of distinct accounts.
According to him, there are also 74.4 million total distinct phone numbers. Looking at account holders by geography, he said 21 per cent of account holders are based in Lagos, 5 per cent each in Oyo and Ogun States, 6 per cent in Rivers and 4 per cent in Abuja.
Out of total number of account holders, 7 per cent originate from Imo, 6 percent from Oyo, while 5 percent each, originate from Delta, Oyo and Osun respectively. Shonubi said 0.1 per cent of account holders are non-residents. On account holders by age, he said 31 per cent of investors are aged 51 years and above, 30 per cent are aged between 31 and 40 years while 12 per cent are aged between 21 and 30 years.
Men account for 61 per cent of account holders, while females account for 39 per cent. Giving some statistics on capital market, Shonubi further said that there are 2.1 million e-dividend registrants, out of which there are 433, 164 unique investors by BVN.
He revealed that men account for 65 per cent investors, while women account for 35 percent. According to him, 38 per cent of investors reside in Lagos, 8 per cent in Abuja, 6 per cent in Rivers while 5 per cent investors each are based in Oyo and Ogun states.
Statistics by state of origin, shows that the highest number of (10 percent) investors in the capi – tal market hail from Anambra, 9 percent each from Imo and Ogun states respectively, while Delta in – vestors account for 7 per cent and Edo accounts for 6 per cent. Out of number of identified investors by BVN , Nigerians account for 421, 377; Indians account for 156; British nationals 142; Ghanaians 109; Lebanese 42 while Americans are 32 investors. The forum which had the objective to move the Fintech industry forward, had in at – tendance stakeholders from banks, GSM operators and Fintech companies. Speaking earlier, the CEO of Kantar Nigeria, Aggrey Maposa, said it is important to discuss what is happening, where the change is happen – ing and how it is happening, as knowing this has become important for Nigeria and companies who want to re – main relevant in the new age, where a lot of things are disrupted. He said the change witnessed in finance and technology has shown that those who are able to make great use of technology in transforming their businesses will get bigger rewards.