NeFF: CBN, NIBSS urge banks, OFIs to deepen collaborations, sustain offensives against e-frauds

*The Central Bank of Nigeria and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc advise Banks and Other Financial Institutions to strengthen collaboration and maintain the progress recorded in the country’s financial ecosystem, stating the sustained cooperation under the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum has strengthened the resilience and security of payments system

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

Following reported declines in electronic frauds and improved digital inclusion in the economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) have advised Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BOFIs) to strengthen collaboration and sustain the progress in the country’s financial ecosystem.

ConsumerConnect reports the CBN and NIBSS stated this Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at the 2026 Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) Technical Kick-Off Session, in Lagos.

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Scores of industry regulators, banks, payment service providers, identity agencies and law enforcement agencies all attended the event Wednesday.

The theme of the 2026 NeFF Technical Kickoff Session was: “Shrinking Fraud Losses With ISO 20022 and Identity Management”.

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Delivering a keynote address at the NeFF, Philip Ikeazor, Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability at CBN, stressed that sustained cooperation under NeFF since 2011 had strengthened the resilience and security of Nigeria’s payments system.

Ikeazor, represented at the forum by Ibrahim Hassan, Director of Development Finance Institutions Supervision Department of the Bank, said the sustained cooperation had reduced fraud losses despite rapid growth in digital transactions and attendant vulnerabilities.

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He also enumerated industry achievements, including migration to EMV chip-and-PIN cards, two-factor authentication, enhanced transaction monitoring, centralised fraud reporting, and the integration of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) with the National Identification Number (NIN).

The Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability further stated: “Emerging threats such as social engineering, SIM-swap abuse, insider compromise and Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams require faster, integrated and proactive responses.

“The industry is committed to reducing fraud response times to under 30 minutes and to adopt enterprise-wide fraud management systems leveraging real-time analytics and shared intelligence.”

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Likewise, in her keynote presentation, Ms. Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NIBSS, said electronic payment fraud losses declined significantly in 2025 due to coordinated actions by regulators, security agencies and industry operators.

Ms. Oiwoh said: “The reduction in electronic payment fraud losses was recorded despite rising transaction volumes.

“We can only attribute this improvement to interventions by CBN, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), security agencies and enhanced monitoring across the payments ecosystem.”

She, however, observed that Internet banking and e-commerce remained the main fraud channels in the past year, with social engineering and insider-assisted fraud emerging as dominant trends.

The gains recorded could only be sustained through stricter controls, stronger regulatory compliance and industry-wide collaboration, said she.

She stressed zero tolerance for non-reporting of fraud, warning that weak reporting, poor identity verification and abuse of transaction limits continued to expose the system to risks.

Underscoring the significance of certain measures to tackle e-frauds in the system, Oiwoh averred that the effective Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Know-Your-Device (KYD) processes, supported by real-time validation of NIN and BVN, are critical to curbing fraud in the banking and financial sector of the Nigerian economy.

Besides, she maintained that stronger reporting requirements, joint industry action and a central “Persons of Interest” database—covering over 13,000 individuals—had improved detection and prevention.

The Managing Director/CEO as well disclosed that the NIBSS is working with the CBN, and other stakeholders on advanced AI-driven monitoring tools and a new national payment infrastructure to further strengthen fraud prevention and deepen financial inclusion.

In her remarks at the event also, Ms. Rakiya Yusuf, Director of Payments System Supervision Department at CBN and Chairman of NeFF, urged continued coordinated action by industry regulators, banks, payment providers, and law enforcement agencies.

Yusuf also listed gains, such as EMV chip-and-PIN migration, two-factor authentication, and improved identity management.

She, nonetheless, cautioned that emerging threats yet would require standardised frameworks, faster response times, and proactive use of ISO 20022 and analytics to sustain fraud reduction in the system.

The Director of Payments System Supervision Department at CBN and Chairman of NeFF, therefore, expressed confidence that deliberations at this year’s forum would strengthen the foundations of a much safer, more trusted digital financial ecosystem in the West African country.

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