Business
CBN Extends BVN Registration Deadline To October 31
L-R: Founder, Heeba Foundation, Abuja, Mrs Fatima Abdu, Deputy Director, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Abuja. Hajia Gana Wakil, Initiator, Hope for Borno, Mrs Iby Ikotidem and Creative Director, Qhaflani Coutive and Life Style, Hajia Hauwa Lawan, during the unveilling of Hope for Borno Initiative in Abuja, recently.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the Bank Registration Verification (BVN) deadline to October 31, to accommodate customers who had thronged the banks to beat an earlier closing date.
This is contained in a circular issued by the apex bank and signed by Mr Dipo Fatokun, Director, Banking and Payment System Department, in Abuja on Tuesday.
“It has come to our notice that the BVN registration has elicited tremendous interest from the Nigerian bank customers who crowded the banking halls in order to beat the deadline.
“In view of the foregoing, it has become imperative for the banks to extend the timeline for all customers to have the BVN.
“The deadline for the enrolment is hereby extended from June 30 to October 31,” it stated.
According to the statement, the extension is expected to facilitate a smooth completion of the registration exercise.
It further stated that the extension would give Nigerian bank customers in the Diaspora, ample time to enrol into the programme.
The statement, however, stated that the guideline for the enrolment of the Diaspora account holders was being finalised and would be released soon.
It would be recalled that Mr Phillip Oduzua, Managing Director, United Bank for Africa at the end of the Bankers Committee meeting on June 2, said about 1.5 million bank customers had enrolled.
He said that customers who failed to register might not enjoy credit facilities, foreign exchange services and internet banking, among others.
Chris Oluoh
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
