E-Financial
CBN Reiterates Need to Secure Payment Systems
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reiterated the need to secure payment systems in the country stem fraudulent activities in the financial sector.
Mr Dipo Fatokun, Director, Banking and Payment Department, CBN, stated this while presenting a keynote address on emerging regulations to protect online, mobile and payment services in Abuja.
The workshop, organised by Maxut Consulting Experts and Vasco Data Security in collaboration with the CBN was centered on the emerging trends in banking and payment systems and regulatory and security implications.
Fatokun said there was the need for continuous effort by stakeholders to develop efficient, reliable and electronic payment systems in the country.
According to him, one of the key tasks of the CBN is to promote the smooth operations of an efficient payment system, which is core to the financial stability of any country.
He said payment systems had important implications for monetary policy implementation and efficiency of the economy.
“To achieve broad objectives of the Payments System, CBN develops and regulates the implementation of regulation to facilitate the growth of initiatives that will harmonise payment operations in the country.
“In its regulatory role, the CBN is careful to approach the dynamic of payment systems policy creation as a delicate balance in order not to stifle innovation and growth in the payment systems.
“In addition, the bank has developed a financial inclusion strategy, the PSV 2020 Vision and cash-less policy drive with specific targets and timelines.
“The sustenance of these initiatives will ensure that financial services are provided at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low-income segments of the society.’’
Fatokun explained that because of the emergence of new technologies, there was a continuous need to update payments system regulation as a result of its dynamic and ever changing nature.
“Technological developments have led to disruptive innovations by financial Technology (FinTech) companies in the financial system.”
These innovations have facilitated the expansion of electronic payments and helped in providing financial services to previously unreached groups.
He said the CBN had tried to incorporate all service providers into the regulatory space but some preferred to remain in the unregulated space due to perceived difficulties of licensing and regulation.
He further said that the participation of the apex bank in the workshop would enhance the knowledge of staff on the operations of non-financial service providers in the payments system.
Fatokun urged banks in the country to ensure standardisation in all transactions while making available their Application Programming Interphase (API).
API is a set of functions and procedures that allows access to data or a service in order to provide greater functionality to the application user.
He said banks had been directed to make their APIs available to FinTechs but Nigerian banks would fully implement this when implications of its availability was fully understood.
Earlier, Mr Micheal Odusami, the President, Maxut Consulting said the workshop would ensure the apex bank was abreast with the current trends and future of the industry.
Odusami said the workshop would also expose the country to what was obtainable from different parts of the World in the sector as some countries were a little more advanced than us.
“They are already putting regulations in place to address some banking issues and sharing them here will see how some of the stuff we are already doing will help us.
On the level of online security risk in the country, Odusami said a lot of the challenges faced was around social engineering, people impersonating other people and so on.
He said that majority of the fraud recorded within the country was carried out by people inside the system itself, “people that know how the system works and they compromise it’’.
He commended efforts by the CBN toward ensuring the mitigation of fraud in the banking sector but added that a lot still needed to be done to secure transactions in the sector.
Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has called for comments from financial services industry stakeholders in the country, policy makers and the general public towards the ongoing revision of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) Core Principles for Effective Deposit Insurance System.
The proposed revision launched by IADI in May 2025, is a significant step towards enhancing the resilience and relevance of deposit insurance frameworks in the face of an evolving global financial landscape.
Specifically, the revision is aimed at comprehensively addressing structural changes, including digital innovation, the growing role of deposit insurers in resolution, and lessons learned from the banking turmoil in March 2023, which is the most significant systemic stress event since the 2007-09 global financial crisis.
The IADI Core Principles are used by jurisdictions, including Nigeria, as a benchmark for assessing the quality of their deposit insurance systems and for identifying gaps in their deposit insurance practices and measures to address them.
The Core Principles are also used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in the context of the Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP), to assess the effectiveness of jurisdictions’ deposit insurance systems and practices.
The first set of the Core Principles was issued jointly by the IADI and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in June 2009 while the document is subjected to periodic revision order to keep it up-to-date with evolving trends on the global financial system landscape.
As a founding and committed member of IADI, NDIC recognises the importance of the ongoing revision and hereby invites stakeholders and the general public to actively participate in the process by reviewing the document on the lin
Onafriq, Africa’s largest digital payments network, has celebrated a major milestone, connecting nearly 1 billion mobile money wallets and 500 million bank accounts across the continent.
According to a statement released by the company, Onafriq has evolved from a mobile money switch to a comprehensive omnichannel payments network, facilitating seamless transactions and financial inclusion.
The company’s network now connects 961 million registered mobile wallets and 464 million registered bank accounts, with over 2,000 cross-border payment corridors supported.
Speaking on the achievement, Dare Okoudjou, Founder and CEO of Onafriq, said, “We remain fully committed to connecting every individual and business in Africa with each other and the world.”
Okoudjou noted that the company has grown in lockstep with the continent’s digital evolution, from mobile money to bank accounts, remittances, and real-time trade.
As Onafriq embarks on its next chapter, the company aims to develop infrastructure with local relevance while maintaining the scale of its pan-African infrastructure.
A prime example is Nigeria, where Onafriq is developing a unique payments stack that combines the strength of its cross-border network with the regulatory and foreign exchange realities of one of Africa’s most dynamic economies.
The company is also exploring blockchain infrastructure and stablecoin integrations to facilitate near-instant, programmable payments, aligning with the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
“We are increasingly focused on creating infrastructure with local depth,” Okoudjou said.
With extensive experience, wide reach, and a proven execution track record, Onafriq remains dedicated to building a payment infrastructure that unlocks prosperity across borders and within local communities.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) has informed its customers that, in compliance with a new directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from bank accounts, effective June 3, 2025.
In a notice sent to customers, the bank explained that the charges would now be deducted directly from users’ mobile airtime balances, in line with the NCC’s newly introduced End-User Billing (EUB) framework.
It said the new model aimed to ensure transparency in USSD transactions and shift billing responsibility to mobile network operators.
According to UBA, each USSD session would now cost ₦6.98 per 120 seconds, saying that customers initiating transactions would receive a prompt to provide consent at the start of each session, and airtime would only be debited if the bank is available to process the request.
The bank advised customers who are not comfortable with the new billing arrangement to opt for other digital banking alternatives such as the UBA mobile app and internet banking platform, which remain fully operational and user-friendly.
UBA reaffirmed its commitment to providing secure and accessible digital services, and encouraged customers to choose the channel that best suits their banking needs.
The policy marks a significant shift in Nigeria’s digital banking ecosystem and is expected to address longstanding disputes over USSD service charges between telecom operators and financial institutions.
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