Overview

The Bank Verification Number (BVN) is a unique identification number assigned to each bank customer in Nigeria. The BVN serves the purpose of authenticating and monitoring a customer's financial transactions spanning various banks and financial institutions. BVN validation refers to the procedure for confirming the authenticity and correctness of a customer-provided BVN.

Why You Need to Validate Your Customer's BVN

BVN validation is an important process for banks and financial institutions in Nigeria for several reasons, such as:

1. Identity verification: BVN validation helps to verify the identity of customers and ensure that they are who they claim to be. This is important for preventing fraud and protecting against identity theft.
2. Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance: BVN validation is a requirement for KYC compliance in Nigeria. Banks and financial institutions are required to verify the identity of their customers, including tracking their financial activity, and BVN validation is one way to meet this requirement.
3. Anti-money laundering (AML) compliance: BVN validation helps to prevent money laundering by providing a way to track financial activity across different banks and financial institutions. This can help to detect and prevent suspicious transactions and other activities that may be indicative of money laundering or other illegal activities.
4. Faster onboarding and transaction processing: BVN validation can speed up the customer onboarding process and make it easier to process transactions. By verifying the customer's identity and financial activity upfront, banks and financial institutions can reduce the risk of delays or errors during the transaction processing stage.

Overall, BVN validation is an important process for ensuring the security and integrity of the financial system in Nigeria, as well as for providing a better customer experience.

Validation process

Here are the steps to perform BVN validation:

1. Collect the customer's BVN: To validate a BVN, you first need to collect the BVN from the customer. This can be done through a web form or a mobile app, or by asking the customer to provide their BVN in person or electronically.
2. Verify the BVN format: Once you have the BVN, you should verify that it is in the correct format. A valid BVN consists of 11 digits, and should not contain any letters or special characters.
3. Submit the BVN for validation: Next, you should submit the BVN to the our BVN validation service or the API we will provide you with.
4. Receive the validation result: After submitting the BVN, you should receive a validation result indicating whether the BVN is valid or invalid. If the BVN is valid, you will receive additional information about the customer, such as their name and date of birth.

Finally, you can use the validation result to verify the customer's identity and financial activity. For example, if you're a financial institution or business that needs BVN as part of KYC, you may use the BVN to verify that the customer's account is active and up-to-date.