Nigeria’s financial regulators have intensified their battle against fraud by listing 13,417 individuals linked to fraudulent activities on a centralised Person of Interest (POI) Portal.
The move aims to strengthen oversight and protect the financial system from persistent threats.
Speaking on the initiative, Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), said that fraud management remains a core mandate of the organisation.
“While the number of reported fraud cases has declined over the past five years, the value of financial losses remains a major concern,” Oiwoh noted.
Data from NIBSS shows that actual fraud losses in 2023 amounted to approximately N17.67 billion, before surging to N52.26 billion in 2024. The sharp increase was largely attributed to a single incident involving N31.1 billion at one financial institution.
Losses in 2025, however, fell significantly, reflecting improved controls and greater collaboration across the banking sector. Investigations also confirmed high levels of insider abuse, including cases involving former bank employees.
Oiwoh highlighted that coordinated industry action is already producing results. Joint efforts by stakeholders in the previous year alone prevented an estimated N20 billion in potential fraud losses.
The newly launched POI Portal centralises data from multiple sources, including industry watchlists, politically exposed persons (PEP) databases, and customer account repositories.
On the technology front, Oiwoh emphasised the role of the National Payment Stack, launched last year under a Central Bank of Nigeria directive. Built to ISO 20022 standards, the system uses advanced AI-driven security to risk-score every instant payment, flagging suspicious transactions in real time.
“If you cannot afford to secure a financial institution properly, you should not operate one,” Oiwoh asserted, underlining the importance of robust security in safeguarding Nigeria’s financial system.