CBN Directs Banks, Telcos: Boost Financial Fraud Collaboration in Nigeria

• The Central Bank of Nigeria has urged banks, telecommunications companies, technology providers, and law enforcement to collaborate more effectively against financial fraud.
• CBN Director Omoyemen Jide-Samuel warned about AI-driven financial fraud, particularly synthetic identities, and called for coordinated intelligence sharing.
• Digital payment fraud losses in Nigeria decreased by approximately 51% from N52.6 billion in 2024 to N25.85 billion in 2025, according to NIBSS data.
• Despite the reduction, cumulative losses over two years reached N78.45 billion, continuing to impact businesses and public confidence.
• Delays in international legal cooperation significantly hinder the prosecution of cybercriminals, allowing digital evidence to disappear.

Shared intelligence must translate into decisive, coordinated action, as the absence of such collaboration directly benefits criminal enterprises that thrive when suspicious activities are assessed in isolation.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a strong directive for enhanced cooperation among key stakeholders to combat the escalating threat of financial fraud across the nation. Speaking at the second International Cybersecurity Conference in Abuja, Omoyemen Jide-Samuel, the CBN's Director of Information Technology, emphasized the critical need for banks, telecommunications companies, technology providers, and law enforcement agencies to forge stronger alliances. This call to action, made on a Wednesday, underscores the CBN's concern that criminals are adept at exploiting existing gaps in information sharing, enabling them to seamlessly transfer illicit funds across various institutions.

Jide-Samuel highlighted that the current fragmented approach to fraud detection is insufficient. She urged financial institutions to transcend isolated efforts and embrace a strategy of coordinated intelligence sharing, which would facilitate much faster and more effective responses. The CBN's stance is clear: shared intelligence must translate into decisive, coordinated action, as the absence of such collaboration directly benefits criminal enterprises that thrive when suspicious activities are assessed in isolation. This imperative for CBN banks telcos financial fraud collaboration Nigeria is central to securing the nation's financial ecosystem.

The CBN director further elaborated on the complex nature of modern financial fraud, explaining that a single fraudulent scheme often originates within one financial institution, subsequently traverses multiple others, and frequently leverages telecommunications networks before the initial complaint can even be processed. She stressed that each entity—financial institutions, telecoms, technology providers, law enforcement, and regulators—possesses a crucial piece of the overall picture. Therefore, an effective response necessitates the rapid integration of these diverse perspectives to influence the outcome decisively.

A significant portion of Jide-Samuel's keynote address, titled “AI-Driven Financial Fraud: Synthetic Identities and Emerging Threats to National Financial Systems,” focused on the alarming rise of artificial intelligence-powered fraud. She specifically raised concerns about synthetic identities, which are sophisticated constructs created by combining genuine personal information with fabricated details. This advanced form of deception allows criminals to manipulate images, clone voices, and generate highly convincing financial records, all designed to trick institutions into authorizing fraudulent transactions.

The CBN official issued a stark CBN synthetic identities warning, cautioning that a familiar voice alone should no longer be considered sufficient proof of authority for sensitive transactions. She advised banks to implement rigorous independent verification processes for payment instructions and to continuously monitor and assess customer identities and transaction patterns. Furthermore, Jide-Samuel urged financial institutions to establish clear, actionable procedures for engaging with receiving banks, meticulously preserving evidence, providing support to affected customers, and escalating suspicious transactions promptly, even outside standard working hours.

Beyond the immediate transactional risks, Jide-Samuel also underscored the broader implications of unchecked AI-driven financial fraud. She warned that a proliferation of such incidents could severely discourage public participation in digital banking services, thereby undermining critical financial inclusion initiatives. Moreover, the ease with which these advanced fraudulent schemes can operate risks facilitating a wider range of illicit financial activities, posing a systemic threat to the integrity and stability of Nigeria's financial system. She also advocated for human oversight of AI systems, particularly when automated decisions could impact customer access to funds.

Providing a quantitative perspective on the fraud landscape, the CBN director cited recent NIBSS digital payment fraud statistics. These figures, sourced from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, indicate a notable reduction in digital payment fraud losses. Specifically, losses decreased from N52.6 billion in 2024 to N25.85 billion in 2025, representing an approximate 51 percent decline. This translates to a year-on-year reduction of N26.75 billion.

Despite this significant decrease, Jide-Samuel highlighted that the cumulative amount lost over these two years still reached a substantial N78.45 billion. While acknowledging the positive trend in reduction, she cautioned that the remaining losses continue to inflict considerable damage on businesses and households. More broadly, these persistent fraud incidents erode public confidence in digital financial services, underscoring the ongoing need for robust fraud prevention and detection mechanisms. The statistics, while showing improvement, reinforce the urgency of the CBN's call for enhanced financial institutions fraud intelligence sharing and collaborative action.

Adding another critical dimension to the fight against financial crime, Jamila Akaaga-Ade, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Cybercrime Unit at the Federal Ministry of Justice, addressed the significant hurdles in prosecuting cybercriminals. Speaking on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, Akaaga-Ade identified delays in cybercrime international legal cooperation Nigeria as a primary impediment to effective enforcement.

She vividly illustrated the problem by stating that while "the crime took minutes, the legal framework took months, and the victim paid the price." This poignant observation highlights how cumbersome bureaucratic procedures and slow international responses can allow crucial digital evidence to vanish before investigators can secure it. Such delays severely compromise the ability to successfully prosecute cybercriminals, effectively granting them impunity and perpetuating the cycle of fraud. The challenges in cross-border legal assistance underscore the need for streamlined processes and greater international collaboration to match the speed and borderless nature of cybercrime.

Lawyers and compliance officers advising financial institutions and telecommunication companies in Nigeria should review their clients' fraud detection, prevention, and information-sharing protocols to align with the CBN's call for enhanced collaboration and faster responses, particularly concerning AI-driven synthetic identity fraud. They should also note the challenges in international legal cooperation for cybercrime prosecution, which impacts enforcement strategies.

Source: Original reporting via The PUNCH