The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has directed banks to set up systems that will enable the automatic refund of money to customers in which Automated Teller Machine (ATM) dispense errors to their transactions.
The apex bank has also issued guidelines for card issuance and usage meant to provide minimum standards and requirements for the issuance and usage of payment cards in the country.
The , CBN Director, Banking and Payments System Department, Dipo Fatokun disclosed this to newsmen , saying “ The implementation of the guidelines will enables issuing banks, other financial institution, processors and cards schemes upgrade and maintain their card operations to ensure optimum security, efficiency, cost effectiveness and customer friendliness.”
The platform, he added, also serves as a tool for banks and other financial institutions to assess their card issuance portfolio and ensures that consumers that carry Nigerian -issued cards operate within acceptable standards.
“From a regulatory perspective; the CBN acknowledges that less than optimal, inefficient or poorly designed systems will ultimately have a negative impact on systemic stability, economic development and growth. It has therefore consciously pursued the growth of a payments system.
He further noted that CBN is taking strategic steps to ensure that the level of fraud arising from e-payment transactions are reduced to the barest minimum.
Speaking during the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Bi-Monthly Forum held in Lagos, Fatokon said the Payments System Vision 2020 launched in 2013, was meant to achieve the re-organisation of the National Payments Governance Structure and encourage more people to embrace e-payment transactions.
E-payment transactions
Fatokun, who was represented by the CBN Deputy Director, Banking and Payments System Department, Musa Jimoh, said the project identified agriculture, smart cities, health, transportation, hotels, entertainment, government flow, education and Consumer Bill Payment as well as direct debits as focus areas.
However, Fatokun explained that the absence of a unique identifier in the banking industry has negative consequences on the growth of e-payments and that the need to resolve the challenge that prompted the CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee to launch the Bank
Verification Number (BVN) project. The project, he said, will help build confidence of customers on the e-payment channels and enhance integrity of transactions.
“The BVN initiative is aimed at protecting bank customers and further strengthening the Nigerian banking system by uniquely identifying all bank customers and acts as a stop-gap, prior to the full implementation of the National Identity Card system,” he said.
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