The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has directed financial institutions to obtain their customer’s social media handles, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, residential address, and other information.
This is part of the bank’s new customer due diligence requirements, which aim to improve the identification process in the banking system. The apex bank revealed this in the newly released ‘Central Bank of Nigeria (Customer Due Diligence) Regulations, 2023’ regulation.
According to the CBN, the new regulation was developed to provide extra consumer due diligence steps for financial institutions subject to its regulatory purview.
It stated, “To provide additional customer due diligence measures for financial institutions subject to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s regulatory purview in order to further their compliance with relevant provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act (MLPPA), 2022, Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act (TPPA), 2022, Central Bank of Nigeria (Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism, and Countering Proliferation Financing
“And enable the CBN to enforce customer due diligence measures in accordance with the CBN AML, CFT, and CPF Regulations.”
The banking regulator specified in its client identification column that financial institutions must identify their customers (whether permanent or occasional, and whether natural or legal persons or legal arrangements) and gather the following information:
“For Individuals — legal name and any other names used (such as maiden name), permanent address (full physical address), residential address (where the customer can be located), telephone number, e-mail address, and social media handle; date and place of birth, Bank Verification Number, Tax Identification Number, nationality, occupation, public position held, and name of employer.”
It further stated that an individual must have a valid passport, national identity card, residential permit, social security records, or driver’s license.
“Type of account and nature of the banking relationship, signature, and politically exposed person status” were added as requirements.
Separate requirements were also included in the paper for legal persons and legal arrangements. The regulations, according to the CBN, would apply to all financial institutions under its purview.
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