The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a new directive to financial institutions.
The CBN mandated financial institutions to obtain the social media handles of customers for the purpose of identification.
The directive is contained in a new CBN customer regulation, which is aimed at further strengthening the identification process in the banking system.
The bankers’ bank also in the diligence regulations mandated deposit money banks to obtain e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and residential addresses, among other things, from customers.
Titled: “Central Bank of Nigeria (Customer Due Diligence) Regulations, 2023,” published on its website on Friday, the apex bank revealed that the new regulation was designed to provide additional customer due diligence measures for financial institutions under its regulatory purview.
The objective of the new regulations according to CBN includes, “To provide additional customer due diligence measures for financial institutions under the regulatory purview of the Central Bank of Nigeria 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 of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Financial Institutions) Regulations, 2022 (CBN AML, CFT and CPF Regulations) and international best practices.