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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.