The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has issued new guidelines to deposit money banks and payment Services banks in a bid to combat cyber-related bank frauds.
Under the new Cyber Cyber-security Framework and Guidelines, commercial banks are expected to manage technology infrastructure to prevent their systems from being breached.
According to the letter issued to banks, and signe by the CBN Acting Director of Banking Supervision, CBN, Dr. Adetona Adedeji, the apex bank said new technology being used by commercial banks came with their own risks.
CBN said this risks must be well managed to prevent cyber money fraud.
According to the apex bank: “The Nigerian financial system has grown remarkably in recent years with increases in products, services, institutions and stakeholders.
“Financial Institutions have increasingly leveraged Information Technology to serve their customers and this has led to rapid evolution in the threat landscape.
“It is necessary that the technology infrastructure and platforms that support financial institutions operations should be managed effectively to promote a sound financial system.
“Consequently, the CBN has revised the Risk-Based Cyber-security Framework and Guidelines for DMBs and Payment Service Banks (PSBs) to provide guidance in the implementation of cyber-security programmes and enhance resilience.
“The revised framework addresses the gaps that have arisen due to the passage of time and outlines the minimum cyber-security controls to be put in place”.
A report published last September by global financial service firm, FITC claimed that the prevalence of new technology in Nigerian banks led to an outstanding 78,584 financial related fraud cases in one year.
