CBN issues exposure draft on revised standard on NUBAN for banks, OFIs

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday issued exposure draft on revised standard on Nigerian Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN) for Deposit Money banks and Other Finance Institutions (OFIs).
The standards are for the efficient operations of Electronic Funds Transfer and cheque clearing operations by Banks and Other Financial Institutions (OFIs).
The guidelines on NUBAN scheme was first issued by CBN in August 2010, to achieve uniform customer bank account numbering structure among all Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria.

In view of the success of the NUBAN Scheme across DMBs and the increasing role of the OFIs in the Electronic Payments System, the CBN said it is imperative that the scope of the Scheme be expanded to include the OFIs.

Consequently, the CBN said The NUBAN format shall consist of 16 digits with the following structure: ABCDEF- GHIJKLMNO-P where –for DMBs:

ABCDEF is the 3-digit Financial Institution code assigned by the CBN, with 3 leading zeros e.g. ‘011’ and ‘232’ become ‘000011’ and ‘000232’ respectively; For OFIs: ABCDEF is the 5-digit Financial Institution code assigned by the CBN with a leading ‘9’ e.g. ‘50547’ becomes ‘950547.
In a circular signed by Sam Okojere, director, payments system management department, the CBN expects comments from stakeholders in hard copy to the department.