Stakeholders in Nigeria’s financial sector are calling on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to abolish the long-standing bank reference requirement for opening current accounts, describing it as outdated and unnecessary in today’s digital banking environment.
For decades, banks have relied on referees as part of onboarding, a practice rooted in a time when institutions depended on handwritten forms, limited identity verification tools and personal trust to reduce the risk of bad cheques. Industry analysts say those conditions no longer exist.
Today, Nigeria’s financial system operates on digital infrastructure that provides real-time identity verification and behavioural insights. Tools such as the Bank Verification Number (BVN), National Identification Number (NIN), SIM registration data and the Corporate Affairs Commission’s digital portal all provide stronger verification than handwritten signatures.
Experts argue that open banking has further improved transparency, enabling banks to access a customer’s financial history, transaction patterns and cashflow behaviour across institutions. They say this level of visibility eliminates the need for acquaintances to act as referees.
The reference rule has also created barriers for Nigerians in the diaspora, foreign investors and international companies, who often struggle to find suitable referees despite having verifiable documentation.
Digital banks operating in Nigeria have already proven that onboarding without referees is possible and effective, relying instead on BVN, NIN, address verification technology and automated risk monitoring.
Analysts note that mature financial systems in countries such as the UK, US, Singapore, South Africa and the UAE do not use referee requirements, depending instead on digital identification and automated fraud-detection systems.
They argue that Nigeria, which now has similar capabilities, must modernise its onboarding rules to improve financial inclusion, reduce friction for investors and support diaspora participation.
They say scrapping the referee requirement is overdue, as the country’s verification systems are now robust enough to manage risks without relying on manual endorsements.
