The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has instructed banks and other financial institutions to cut their response time to electronic fraud cases to less than 30 minutes, intensifying efforts to reduce losses across the country’s fast-growing digital payments system.
The directive was announced by the CBN’s Deputy Governor for Financial System Stability, Mr. Philip Ikeazor, at the 2026 Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) Technical Kick-Off Session. He highlighted the move as a critical industry-wide agreement aimed at improving fraud containment and recovery.
According to Ikeazor, swift intervention is essential to limiting financial losses and protecting confidence in electronic payment channels. “The industry has agreed to reduce fraud response times to under 30 minutes, a decisive step that significantly enhances recovery outcomes and reduces systemic risk,” he said.
He noted that delays in addressing fraud incidents often escalate losses and undermine public trust, even as Nigeria continues to strengthen its payment infrastructure.
While traditional threats such as ATM card cloning have largely been curtailed, Ikeazor explained that fraud risks have evolved with increased digitisation. Emerging challenges now include online scams, social engineering, SIM-swap fraud, insider breaches, and authorised push payment scams.
To counter these risks, the CBN is prioritising the adoption of ISO 20022, stressing that it should be seen as a powerful fraud-fighting framework rather than a routine regulatory requirement. The standard, he said, will significantly enhance transaction transparency, detection, and response capabilities across the financial system.