Central Bank Mandates Banks to Obtain Customers’ Social Media Handles

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has made it compulsory for all Financial Institutions in the country to obtain their customers’ social media handles, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, residential addresses, and more.

The new development forms part of the apex bank’s new customer due diligence regulations and is in a bid further to deepen the identification process in the banking system.

CBN disclosed this in its newly released ‘Central Bank of Nigeria (Customer Due Diligence) Regulations, 2023’ document.

The apex bank stated that this new regulation was introduced to aid additional customer due diligence measures for financial institutions under its regulatory purview.

It noted, “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.

In the new policy regulation of the banking sector, it is mandatory for financial institutions to identify their customer (whether permanent or occasional, and whether natural or legal persons or legal arrangements) and obtain 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 noted that an individual must have any of an unexpired passport, national identification card, residence permit, social security records, or driver’s license.

As part of the requirement, it added, “Type of account and nature of the banking relationship, and signature, and politically exposed person status.