Banks and payment service providers have been urged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pledge quantifiable decreases in electronic fraud.
In accordance with the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum’s (NeFF) guidelines, it also asked institutions to react to questionable transactions within thirty minutes.
Speaking at the Technical Kick-Off Session of the 2026 Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) with the theme “Shrinking Fraud Losses with ISO 20022 and Identity Management,” According to Mr. Philip Ikeazor, Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, CBN, the sector has to implement enterprise-wide, data-driven fraud management solutions that can produce observable outcomes in place of disjointed controls.
Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), also spoke at the conference. He disclosed that the financial system saw a notable improvement in fraud outcomes in 2025, with the value of funds lost to fraud decreasing by 51% year over year.
“The industry must commit to bold, measurable fraud-reduction targets, supported by clear strategic priorities,” Ikeazor added.
Full utilization of ISO 20022 data, universal and real-time identity verification, improved round-the-clock fraud monitoring and response, organized liability-sharing and consumer reimbursement frameworks, increased interaction with telecoms and payment service providers, and stringent performance evaluation via clear scorecards are some of these. What is measured has to be improved.
In the end, fraud is a problem for financial stability rather than just an operational one. Unchecked fraud puts inclusion gains at risk, erodes confidence in digital finance, and creates systemic dangers.
Nigeria protects trust in its payments system, promotes economic expansion, and upholds macro-financial stability by tightening fraud measures. In order to accomplish these goals, the central bank is nevertheless fully committed to offering the regulatory leadership, policy assistance, and coordination needed.
“We must work together to complete this vital mission. 2026 may and should be remembered as the pivotal year when Nigeria significantly reduced fraud losses and ensured the future of its digital financial ecosystem thanks to clear goals, shared accountability, and persistent cooperation under NeFF.
As a result, the industry decided under NeFF to cut the time it took to respond to fraud to less than 30 minutes. Ikeazor said that this was a crucial step in enhancing recovery results and reducing systemic exposure.
He claims that as danger vectors have changed, so too have fraud mitigation initiatives. While more recent threats including internet fraud, social engineering, SIM-swap misuse, insider compromise, and authorized push payment (APP) scams have surfaced, legacy frauds like ATM card cloning have been successfully eliminated.
“Mandatory two-factor authentication, industry advisories, public awareness campaigns, round-the-clock bank fraud desks, and, most recently, the creation of a Standardized APP Scam Framework are just a few of the prompt actions that NeFF has been instrumental in organizing.
“A significant step that significantly improves recovery outcomes and reduces systemic exposure is the industry’s agreement to reduce fraud response times to less than 30 minutes.”
Ikeazor also emphasized the relevance of identification infrastructure in preventing fraud, citing the effect of the National Identification Number (NIN) and the Bank Verification Number (BVN) in lowering fraud involving impersonation and synthetic identities.
He stated that maintaining the integrity of the payment system would require ongoing cooperation with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
According to Oiwoh’s contribution, the overall amount of fraud losses decreased from N52.26 billion in 2024 to N25.85 billion in 2025, and the number of recorded fraud instances decreased by 4% to 67,518 from 70,111 in 2024.
He credited stricter regulations, increased cooperation between banks, security firms, and regulators, and enhanced fraud detection skills throughout the payments ecosystem for the dramatic decline in fraud losses.
“Looking at industry fraud over the past five years, the number of cases has declined significantly,” he stated. Losses increased to N52.26 billion in 2024, primarily due to a single N31.1 billion fraud occurrence involving a single firm. Losses fell to N25.85 billion in 2025, a substantial decrease.
“I have to thank the police, DSS, and other security agencies for their efforts. In order to attain financial inclusion, fraud must be reduced as much as feasible. It can be accomplished.
According to Oiwoh, insider abuse is the biggest threat, and social engineering is still the most common fraud strategy. He continued, “SIM-swap fraud, phishing, and account compromise continue to evolve, underscoring the need for stronger internal controls, staff monitoring, and joint industry action.”
He warned that non-reporting is still unacceptable and voiced alarm about the decline in fraud reporting, which decreased by almost 34% in the final quarter of 2025.
“Reporting facilitates monitoring and research.” Because crimes were not recorded, fraudsters occasionally just relocated from one institution to another, he claimed.
Oiwoh revealed that in order to address this, the NIBSS created the Person of Interest Portal in collaboration with the CBN, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and security agencies. As of right now, 13,417 people have been implicated in fraud since 2019. He claimed that law enforcement organizations were actively utilizing the portal.
Along with the introduction of the National Payment Stack (NPS), which was constructed in accordance with ISO 20022 and integrated with advanced security and Nigerian data sovereignty, he also emphasized the expanding significance of AI-driven cybersecurity and digital intelligence capabilities. He said that every instant payment was now risk-scored and that questionable transactions were immediately reported.
In the future, Oiwoh stated that financial literacy and the availability of reasonably priced cellphones are still essential for expanding digital inclusion, while the recovery of pilfered money is still underway.
He emphasized that appropriate BVN and NIN validation using APIs may prevent up to 95% of identity-related fraud, but cautioned that weak account restrictions, poor client profile, and insufficient KYC measures continue to expose institutions to risk.
Dr. Rakiya Yusuf, the CBN Director of Payment System Supervision and NeFF Chairman, stated in her presentation that the apex bank will shortly start inspecting banks to verify adherence to ISO 20022 standards and improved use of electronic channels.
She emphasized that all institutions must make sure that appropriate know-your-customer (KYC), know-your-business (KYB), and customer due diligence (CDD) procedures are properly followed while reiterating that there was no “KYC zero” policy.
“We have different thresholds for KYC 1, 2, and 3,” she stated. There is no KYC known as KYC zero, in which identity is completely absent.
“The central bank has not developed a policy pertaining to KYC four. Therefore, if you have that in your books, it will be very convenient to address them.
