The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to roll out plans to have biometrics replace pin code used during transactions on Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
This was made known over the weekend by the chairman, Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NEFF), Dipo Fatokun, during its 2017 annual retreat in Ibadan.
According to him, “Operationalising a four-sided approach to preventing fraud” were top officials of the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), U.S Consulate, Lagos, Consumer Protection Council, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc , Access Bank, First Bank, Mobile Money Operators among other stakeholders in the financial sector of the nation’s economy.
According to Fatokun, the introduction of biometrics into the banking system is part of the effort of the CBN to ensure successful fight against electronic fraud in the banking sector.
Fatokun said though, sharing of pin code with a third parties is against the policy of banking sector but, however admitted that it could not be avoided in some circumstances.
He said in situation whereby the account owner is not literate or he is incapacitated, he may be forced to disclose his pin code to third parties.
He said; “Your pin and account details are not supposed to be disclosed to third person but as you rightly said, we have some people who are not literate or incapacitated and that makes them to disclosing their details to third party.
“What we are canvassing is that in a time soon to come, with the BVN in place, biometrics will be used for transactions on ATM.
“That means if you want to transact with your ATM, you will need to use your biometrics. There is no way you can give your finger to a third party. If that is enabling, it will make our system to be more secure and make all our transactions to be validated.
“But biometric electronic devises are very expensive because of the technologies involved but I am sure, we shall get there soon.”