The Central Bank of Nigeria has introduced new compliance rules requiring banks, fintech companies and other financial institutions in the country to deploy automated anti-money laundering systems to monitor transactions and detect suspicious financial activities.
According to the apex bank, the directive is aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s capacity to detect and prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing within the financial system.
Under the new guideline, deposit money banks have been given 18 months to fully implement the automated monitoring systems.
Other financial institutions, including fintech companies, mobile money operators and payment service providers, have been granted 24 months to comply with the directive.
The policy will require financial institutions to transition from largely manual monitoring processes to technology-driven systems capable of tracking financial transactions in real time.
The Central Bank also directed all affected institutions to submit detailed implementation plans within three months to its Compliance Department, outlining how they intend to deploy the automated systems.
Automated anti-money laundering platforms typically use advanced analytics, transaction monitoring tools and artificial intelligence to analyse large volumes of financial transactions and flag unusual patterns that could indicate financial crimes.
Regulators believe the new framework will significantly improve the speed, efficiency and accuracy of detecting suspicious activities across Nigeria’s financial sector.
Nigeria’s banking and fintech ecosystem has expanded rapidly over the past decade, handling large volumes of digital transactions daily. Regulators say adopting automated monitoring systems is necessary to keep pace with the scale and complexity of modern financial operations.
The Central Bank added that it will continue to monitor the financial system and may issue additional guidelines where necessary to ensure effective implementation of the new compliance requirements.
