Olusoga: BVN Literally Transformed the FinTech Sector

Nume Ekeghe

The Group Managing Director of Parthian Partners, the parent company of the prominent Fintech firm i-invest, Oluseye Olusoga, has stressed the profound transformative effect the Bank Verification Number (BVN) has had on the Nigerian Fintech sector.

He shared this insight during the Nigeria Fintech Forum held in Lagos where he discussed the evolution of the Nigerian Fintech landscape and the key trends shaping its growth.

Participating in a panel session themed, “Nigerian Fintech So Far; Assessing Trends, Opportunities & Obstacles,” Mr. Olusoga emphasised that financial inclusion and FinTech growth in Nigeria have been greatly influenced by three factors: mobile phones, data, and BVN.

He said: “BVN literally transformed the FinTech sector; from the KYC perspective to fraud prevention techniques. A lot of FinTechs can only do what they do today because of the existence of BVN. However, the same BVN has become the cause of a lot of Fintech’s headaches on the flipside. For instance, overnight, NIBSS comes up with a new policy that says everyone must have this thing called ‘iGree.’ While it could be argued that it is in line with data protection practices and so on, it could potentially turn into a nightmare for FinTechs depending on how it is implemented.”

Addressing the issue of the National Identification Number (NIN), he believes that BVN already solves the same problem, and efforts should be coordinated to avoid duplicating resources. “Since NIN was implemented after BVN and BVN seems to be working just fine, we should not waste resources trying to create something that already exists, ”Olusoga said.

He emphasized the need for collaboration between practitioners and policymakers to enable innovations like wallet systems that facilitate easy and quick money transfers.