Central Bank of Nigeria Calls on Banks to Combat Fraud, Adhere to 30-Minute Rule

Banks and payment service providers have been urged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make quantifiable reductions in electronic fraud.

Additionally, under the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) framework, it advised institutions to react to suspicious transactions within 30 minutes.

Speaking at the “Shrinking Fraud Losses with ISO 20022 and Identity Management” Technical Kick-Off Session of the 2026 Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), 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 noticeable outcomes in place of dispersed 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 money lost to fraud decreasing by 51% year over year.

Ikeazor went on, “The industry must commit to bold, measurable fraud-reduction targets, supported by clear strategic priorities.”

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 transparent scorecards are some of these. Improving what is measured is necessary.

In the end, fraud is a problem that affects financial stability rather than just operations. Unchecked fraud raises systemic dangers, jeopardizes advances in inclusiveness, and erodes confidence in digital finance.

Nigeria promotes economic growth, maintains macro-financial stability, and protects trust in its payment system by bolstering fraud controls. The central bank is still totally dedicated to offering the coordination, policy assistance, and regulatory leadership needed to accomplish these goals.

“We have an important collective duty ahead of us. 2026 may and should be remembered as the pivotal year when Nigeria significantly reduced fraud losses and safeguarded the future of its digital financial ecosystem thanks to clear goals, shared accountability, and ongoing cooperation under NeFF.

As a result, the sector came to an agreement under NeFF to cut the time it takes to respond to fraud to less than 30 minutes, which Ikeazor said is essential to enhancing recovery results and reducing systemic vulnerability.

He claims that “efforts to mitigate fraud have evolved in tandem with changing threat vectors.” While more recent threats like internet fraud, social engineering, SIM-swap misuse, insider compromise, and authorized push payment (APP) scams have surfaced, older frauds like ATM card cloning have been successfully eliminated.

“NeFF has been instrumental in organizing prompt actions, such as industry alerts, public awareness campaigns, mandated two-factor authentication, round-the-clock bank fraud desks, and, most recently, the creation of a Standardized APP Scam Framework.

“A significant step that significantly improves recovery outcomes and limits systemic exposure is the industry’s agreement to reduce fraud response times to under 30 minutes.”

Ikeazor also emphasized the relevance of identification infrastructure in preventing fraud, citing the reduction of impersonation and synthetic identity fraud as a result of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and its integration with the National Identification Number (NIN).

He stated that maintaining cooperation with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) will be essential to enhancing the integrity of the payment system.

According to Oiwoh’s contribution, total fraud losses decreased from N52.26 billion in 2024 to N25.85 billion in 2025. Additionally, the number of reported fraud cases decreased by 4% to 67,518 from 70,111 in 2024.

He credited stricter regulations, increased cooperation between regulators, banks, and security agencies, and enhanced fraud detection capabilities throughout the payments ecosystem for the dramatic decline in fraud losses.

“The number of cases of industry fraud has significantly decreased over the past five years,” he stated. Losses increased to N52.26 billion in 2024, mostly due to a single N31.1 billion fraud occurrence involving one firm. Losses fell dramatically to N25.85 billion in 2025.

“I have to thank the police, DSS, and other security agencies for their work. Fraud must be reduced as much as possible if we are to attain financial inclusion. It is possible.

According to Oiwoh, insider misuse has emerged as the single greatest concern, and social engineering is still the most common fraud strategy. He noted that the ongoing evolution of SIM-swap fraud, phishing, and account penetration highlights the necessity of more robust internal controls, employee monitoring, and collaborative industry action.

However, he warned that non-reporting is still unacceptable and voiced alarm over the decline in fraud reporting, which dropped by almost 34% in the final quarter of 2025.

“Reporting makes tracking and research possible. Because crimes were not recorded, scammers often just moved from one institution to another, he claimed.

In response, Oiwoh said that 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 fraudulent operations since 2019. He said that law enforcement authorities were actively using the portal.

Along with the introduction of the National Payment Stack (NPS), which was developed 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 all instant payments were now risk-scored and that suspicious transactions were immediately flagged.

In the future, Oiwoh stated that financial knowledge and access to reasonably priced cellphones are still essential for expanding digital inclusion, while the recovery of pilfered money is still ongoing.

He emphasized that good 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 put institutions at risk.

Dr. Rakiya Yusuf, the CBN Director of Payment System Supervision and NeFF Chairman, stated in her presentation that the apex bank will soon start inspecting banks to guarantee adherence to ISO 20022 standards and improved use of electronic channels.

She emphasized that all institutions must make sure that appropriate know-your-business (KYB), know-your-customer (KYC), and customer due diligence (CDD) procedures are properly followed, reiterating that there was no “KYC zero” policy.

“We have KYC 1, 2, and 3 with different thresholds,” she stated. When there is absolutely no identity, there is no KYC known as KYC zero.

“There isn’t a KYC four policy that the central bank has developed. It will therefore be quite convenient to address them if you have that in your books.