The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday set end of June as deadline for full compliance to the proposal for the implementation of uniform customer bank account numbering system in the country.
By that date, only banks with the Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN) codes and validation test pass would be allowed access into the automated clearing system by the apex bank.
The apex bank said yesterday the present account numbers and NUBAN codes would co-exist in the electronic payment and cheque clearing systems till June 2011, after which customers in all the 24 deposit money banks (DMBs) are expected to be integrated into the new system.
The apex bank had, in August last year, issued guidelines on the NUBAN scheme designed to achieve a uniform customer bank account numbering structure in the country, as part of efforts to help resolve the myriad of problems observed with the current electronic payment system by commercial banks, particularly those relating to specification of wrong beneficiary account numbers.
Similarly, it directed banks to provide the relevant information to their customers in-clearing systems to enable them distinguish NUBAN codes from old account numbers while processing inward cheque items and electronic payment instruments during this transition period.
“The deadline for full NUBAN compliance is June 2011. Therefore, only instruments (paper and electronic) that carry NUBAN codes and pass the NUBAN validation test (that is, instruments with correct check digit) would be allowed in the automated clearing system as from this date,” the CBN said.
Working to comply
But there appears to be various levels of compliance by the banks to the directive, as most of the banks spoken to yesterday either were ignorant of the new numbering system or were yet to do anything about it, while others said they had commenced the process and are on course to meeting the deadline.
At Afribank Plc, the spokesman, Moshood Isamotu, said its management had since January this year complied with the directive, as all its systems have been upgraded to accommodate the new digital platform required for the effective operation of the NUBAN system throughout its network of branches.
For Udo Igwe, the head, brand management department of Springbank, it had started the process already and hopes to complete it before the June deadline.
However, responses from officials in most other banks gave an indication that they still have a long way to go in meeting the deadline, as some of them said they were either not aware, or have not commenced action on the directive.
In its recommendation to facilitate the smooth implementation of the scheme, the Cheques and Automated Clearing House (ACH) Working Group (CAWG) recently recommended the issuance of a special NUBAN check number code for all banks and customers accounts.
The NUBAN account serial number, according to the apex bank, would be preceded by a three digits code assigned by the CBN to the bank, with the last number in the serial representing the NUBAN check digit required for account number validation.
The 3-digit codes assigned by the CBN to the banks in the Bankers Clearing System , according to the operational guidelines issued in Abuja yesterday, include Access Bank (044), Fidelity Bank (070), StanbicIBTC (221), Afribank (014), Finbank (085), Standard Chartered Bank (068), Citibank (023), Guaranty Trust Bank (058), and Sterling Bank (232).
Others include Diamond Bank (063), Intercontinental Bank (069), United Bank for Africa (033), Ecobank (050), Oceanic Bank (056), Union Bank (032), Equitorial Trust Bank (040), BankPHB (082), Wema Bank (035), First Bank (011), Skye Bank (076), Zenith Bank (057), First City Monument Bank (214), SpringBank (084), and Unity Bank (215).
The NUBAN code of a typical customer bank account would be derived through the summation of the bank’s assigned 3-digit code in the Bankers Clearing System with the NUBAN serial number, less the last digit for a module of 10 to arrive at the check digit for number validation.
“All Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) are advised to adopt this uniform algorithm to obtain the check digit component of the NUBAN codes of their customer account numbers,” the apex bank said yesterday, urging bank managements to communicate the NUBAN codes to their existing customers, while all new bank accounts should henceforth be provided with the new codes.
Under the new arrangement, only NUBAN numbers/codes are supposed to be featured in place of the customer account number field in the cheque Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) code line in all cheques issued to customers.
Source : 234next
