eFraud: CBN, stakeholders move to tackle N4Bn annual losses

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other key stakeholders in the payment sector will, next month, converge on Lagos at the annual Payment Systems and Fraud Conference to discuss how to tackle cases of electronic fraud (e-fraud) in the country.

With over N30 trillion transactions carried out on different e-payment channels by businesses and individuals in the country, stakeholders have expressed worries over cases of e-fraud, which they said has been discouraging some people from financial inclusion.

According to the Nigerian Interbank Settlements System Plc. (NIBSS)’ report, over N4 billion was lost to cases of e-frauds in 2015.

The conference, being organised by the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN) with the theme: ‘E-Payment Fraud: People, Process and Technology’ is slated for November 8, 2016 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Speaking on the forthcoming conference, Mrs. Regha Onajite, chief executive officer, E-PPAN, said the conference has been designed to be a veritable rallying ground for the financial industry to deliberate on payment systems and fraud knowledge in West Africa.

“This event will bring together senior level officers of the fintech sector, banking, regulatory bodies and public officers. Our core focus on this years’ edition is to tackle fraud in a proactive and top-down approach that involves people, process and technology. This will help create effective combats against the activities of the e-payment fraudsters in Nigeria,” she said.

Explaining specific objectives of the conference, she said the conference address the challenges posed by people’s laxity in divulging and compromising organisation information system to fraudsters.

“It will also re-appraise, reconnect and tackle the processes that compromised the entire system of e-payment hemisphere in Nigeria, and fashion out how organisations can invest in and deploy the right technologies to enable the industry be a step ahead of these criminals,” she said.

Onajite added that E-PPAN partners at this year’s event, apart from the CBN, include the Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (Neff), Committee of –Banking Head (CeBIH), Committee of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (CCCOBIN), Information Security Society of Nigeria (ISSAN) and the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria (ACAEBIN), among others.

She said attendance for the conference was free urging persons to register for the event, which, she said, would be a melting pot of ideas to proffer solutions to the cases of e-fraud in the nation’s e-payment industry.