The guidelines, issued in March 2026, formally recognise artificial intelligence and machine learning as tools banks and payment companies can use to monitor suspicious transactions.

They also require financial institutions to deploy automated anti-money laundering systems capable of detecting unusual activity and reporting it to regulators.

Under the directive, banks, mobile money operators, international money transfer operators and other regulated financial institutions must implement systems that support customer risk profiling, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and case management.

“As financial services become increasingly digitised and complex, manual AML/CFT/CPF controls are no longer sufficient to manage evolving risks,” the central bank said in the framework.

For years, many compliance processes in Nigeria’s financial sector relied heavily on manual reviews and rule-based systems. The new standards shift the focus toward technology-driven monitoring.

Banks will now be expected to deploy automated platforms that can track customer behaviour, flag unusual transaction patterns and support real-time reporting of suspicious activity to regulators, including the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.

These systems must integrate with core banking platforms and customer onboarding systems so institutions can analyse transactions in the context of a customer’s profile rather than isolated payment data.

The framework also encourages the use of tools such as anomaly detection, behavioural pattern recognition and automated risk scoring. Systems should be capable of identifying name variations during sanctions checks and screening customers against politically exposed persons lists.

However, the central bank insists technology cannot operate without oversight. Financial institutions that deploy machine-learning models must validate those systems regularly and ensure investigators can understand why alerts were triggered.

Real-time fraud monitoring becomes a requirement

The new standards don’t just focus on money laundering, as banks must also deploy automated fraud monitoring tools that track transactions across cards, electronic channels, deposits and lending platforms.

The systems are expected to operate in real time or near real time so institutions can stop suspicious transactions before funds leave an account.

Fraud monitoring tools may operate on the same platform as anti-money laundering systems, but the regulator requires institutions to maintain separate management and governance structures for each function.

Data from the Financial Institutions Training Centre shows fraud losses climbed to ₦3.29 billion in the first quarter of 2025, representing a 603% increase year-on-year, with 12,347 cases reported across the banking sector.

Regulators say the growing use of digital payment platforms, instant transfers and online banking has created new opportunities for organised financial crime.

Aligning Nigeria with global compliance trends

Nigeria’s new regulations also place the country within a bigger global shift toward technology-based compliance.

Industry estimates suggest that about 90 per cent of financial institutions worldwide will use artificial intelligence or machine learning in anti-money laundering programmes by 2026, up from roughly 62% in 2024.

Regulators in other jurisdictions are already seeing similar adoption. Data from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority shows about 75% of financial firms already use AI in compliance operations, with another 10% planning deployment within three years.

These technologies can reduce false alerts by as much as 40%, allowing compliance teams to focus on genuinely suspicious transactions rather than reviewing thousands of routine alerts.

The regulatory technology market is also expanding. Analysts estimate the global RegTech market could reach $19.5 billion by 2026, driven largely by demand for AI-powered compliance systems.

Implementation timeline for banks and fintechs

The central bank has given financial institutions a phased timeline to implement the new framework.

Banks classified as deposit money institutions must fully comply within 18 months, while other financial institutions have up to 24 months to deploy compliant systems.

Each institution must also submit a detailed implementation roadmap to the regulator within three months of the circular’s issuance.

Supervisory teams will monitor compliance through inspections and regulatory reviews. Institutions that fail to meet the requirements risk sanctions under existing banking regulations.

Part of a clean-up of Nigeria’s financial system

The new CBN AI anti-money laundering (AML) standards follow several regulatory movements aimed at strengthening financial oversight in Nigeria.

In recent years, the central bank strengthened customer verification regulations, requiring new account holders to provide a Bank Verification Number or National Identification Number. Authorities also introduced stronger reporting requirements for fraudulent transactions and refund investigations.

These reforms were important in Nigeria’s removal from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force in 2025, after the country improved transparency in its financial system.

Regulators are now pushing banks and fintech companies toward a more integrated financial crime monitoring system where fraud detection and anti-money laundering management share data and analytics.

Officials say the goal is to detect suspicious activity faster and close the gaps criminals use to move money through the financial system.

Mobile banking, fintech innovation, and cross-border digital payments have reshaped how individuals and businesses consume financial services.

In Nigeria and across the continent face, banks face sharp scrutiny from expanding regulatory landscape, including Anti-Money Laundering (AML), combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) and combating the financing of proliferation (CPF) that involves disrupting funds for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) through targeted financial sanctions.

With increased cross border trade, everyone including governments look upon banks to provide Know Your Customer (KYC) services, fraud risk management, and increasingly adhere to stringent data protection and privacy regulations as well as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting standards.

Compliance is no longer a back-office obligation, and this calls for increased investments in technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to enable banks to meet compliance requirements.

This is important as local traders want a banking partner who offers one-stop shop services on compliance matters. For banks, this is a competitive advantage, a core capability, and a source of differentiation.

By embedding compliance into product and process design, banks can meet regulatory obligations efficiently while fostering innovation through a compliance-by-design approach.

In March 2025, the Central Bank of Kenya published the results of a survey on AI adoption in the banking sector, revealing moderate uptake, with 50% of respondents indicating some level of implementation.

The survey found that among institutions that had adopted AI and machine learning, the leading applications were credit risk assessment (65%), cybersecurity (54%) and customer service (43%), followed by e-KYC (41%) and fraud risk management (40%).

These findings underscore significant untapped potential for AI to transform customer experience and strengthen risk management, particularly in AML and compliance monitoring.

As intra-Africa trade continues to increase, compliance teams within banks must play a leading role in establishing strong governance, ensuring transparency, and preparing institutions for emerging regulatory expectations.

The Central Bank of Kenya has confirmed that it is in the final stages of developing a Guidance Note on Artificial Intelligence, with 95% of surveyed institutions having requested formal regulatory direction.

The anticipated principles-based framework will focus on governance, risk management, transparency, and the ethical use of AI, laying the foundation for responsible innovation in the financial sector.

AI and ML models offer practical solutions to compliance challenges by learning and tracking typical behavioural patterns by customer, product, and corridor, flagging anomalies such as unusual counterparties, transaction values, or routing patterns in cross-border flows.

These tools can also generate more accurate and complete assessments of ongoing customer due diligence and customer risk, which can be updated to account for new and emerging threats in real time.

By detecting potential violations of normal customer profiles in data or groups of customers with higher-risk characteristics, AI has streamlined priorities towards high-risk cases and reduced the time spent on false positives.

This capability is increasingly critical as transaction volumes and complexity grow. Such technological advances transform compliance from a costly obligation into a strategic advantage.

Customers do not need to know one another to execute a transaction since AI-powered identity authenticates customer identity through document scanning, biometric verification and mobile-based identity solutions.

These solutions have also enabled banks to onboard new customers remotely without the need to visit a physical bank to fill in registration details.

Accounts are fully secure and only users who pass the mobile-based identity verification are allowed access thereby preventing fraud.

This also supports financial inclusion by enabling access to financial services for individuals who struggle to provide adequate identification documents for opening bank accounts.

In addition, Regulatory Technology (RegTech) solutions enable financial institutions to monitor regulatory developments, map obligations across their operations, conduct initial gap assessments, ensure that policies and procedures are always up to date and streamline regulatory reporting.

This capability is particularly valuable for pan-African institutions in ensuring agility while responding to regulatory changes across multiple jurisdictions. With its presence in 34 African countries, Ecobank advocates for harmonised payment systems and regulatory frameworks as a catalyst for accelerating intra-African trade.

Regional regulatory alignment further amplifies these gains. As African regulators work towards greater harmonisation of standards, banks with pan-African footprints are uniquely positioned to bridge local realities with global expectations, enabling smoother cross-border transactions and reducing friction for businesses operating across multiple markets.

The convergence of digital innovation and regulation presents an opportunity to support regional integration and strengthen public confidence.

Banks that integrate compliance into their digital strategies, invest in ethical AI, enforce strong governance, and actively engage regulators will be best positioned to compete, facilitate trade, and protect financial integrity.

On an Africa-wide platform, traders from Nigeria want a synchronised platform that provides them with end-to-end solutions.

Say Ecobank Group’s AML monitoring and sanctions screening capabilities within its SWIFT payment infrastructure ensure that all cross-border payment messages undergo real-time compliance checks prior to fund settlement.

With increased intra-Africa trade that rides on online platforms, accelerated digitalisation of cross-border transactions, timely, efficient, and secure payment processing is paramount.

Real-time compliance monitoring is a non-negotiable cornerstone of safeguarding the integrity of international payment flows.

Ultimately, the future of banking in Africa will be defined by how institutions harness technology to meet regulatory obligations, deter financial crime, and foster trust among businesses, consumers, and public institutions alike.

Compliance is no longer a constraint on growth; it is a foundation for sustainable innovation, regional integration, and long-term confidence in Africa’s financial system.

*Ms Mureithi is a director in charge of compliance at Ecobank, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa (CESA)

The entry opens on Thursday July 28^th and closes on Monday October 3^rd, 2022. 

The award ceremony will take place at the prestigious Oriental Hotel, Lagos on November 4^th, 2022.

The Nigerian Fintech Awards are dedicated to honouring excellence in financial technologies and services companies and products.

The Awards provide public recognition for the achievements of FinTech companies and products in categories including Payments, Personal Finance, Wealth Management, Fraud Protection, Banking, Lending, RegTech, InsurTech, and more.

 Nigerian Fintech Awards Categories:

1.   CONSUMER & CORPORATE BANKING

a.  Best Retail Internet-Banking Platform

For a bank with a secure, innovative, and customer-friendly internet banking platform.

b.  Best Digital Onboarding Platform

For a bank or fintech with an innovative end-to-end digital onboarding system that enables the seamless verification of customer identity and address in real-time.

c.   Best Corporate Internet Banking Platform

For a bank or fintech digital corporate internet platform that increases conversions, captures more customers, and drives Digital revenue

d.  Best Mobile Banking

For a bank with the most robust, most secured, and efficient mobile banking service

e.   Best in Cash Automation

For a bank with a real-time cash inventory system that Improves productivity, customer service, and fund efficiency.

f.    Best Innovation in Agency Banking

For a bank, a mobile money operator (MMO), or a Super Agency firm with the most innovative, secured, and customer-friendly agency banking operations.

2.  CONSUMER LENDING

a.  Best Consumer Lending Platform

For a fintech or bank with an innovative and scalable consumer-lending platform.

b.  Best Consumer Lending Product

For a fintech or bank with an impacting lending product. 

c.    Best Consumer Lending Company

 For non-bank lending company with an innovative approach to consumer lending

d.  Best Loan Data Service Provider

For a credit bureau service provider or a loan data service provider with innovative and impacting solutions.

e.   Best Peer-to-Peer Lending Platform

For a peer-to-peer lending platform that is fairly impacting both sides of the business.

f.    Innovation Award for Consumer Lending

For the most innovative consumer lending service provider.

3.  BUSINESS LENDING

a.  Best Business Lending Platform

For a fintech or a bank with an innovative and impactful business/corporate lending platform.

b.  Best Business Lending Platform

For a fintech or a bank with an innovative and impactful business/corporate lending platform.

c.   Best Small Business Lending Solution

For a fintech or a bank with a dynamic small business lending solution.

d.  Best Overall LendTech Company

For the most outstanding lendTech company.

4.  WEALTH MANAGEMENT

a.  Best Wealth Management Platform

For a firm that provides a secure, efficient, and cost-effective investment platform.

b.  Best Wealth Management Product

For a firm that provides secure, efficient, and cost-effective investment solutions.

c.   Best Wealth Management Company

For an outstanding firm that provides a secure, efficient, and cost-effective investment platform for her customers.

5.  PERSONAL FINANCE

a.  Best Personal Finance Platform

For fintech that delivers a platform that helps customers become more efficient at managing money as well as meet long-term financial goals

b.  Best Personal Finance Product

For fintech with a personal finance product or solution that helps customers become more efficient at managing money as well as meet long-term financial goals

6.  PAYMENTS

a.  Best Consumer Payments Platform

For a fintech or a bank that provides a payment platform that accepts payments, sends payouts, settle funds, globally connected, innovative, flexible, reliable and secure. The platform must also enable easy plugin integration, and data protection, increase sales and minimize operation costs.

b.  Best Consumer Payments Product

For a fintech or a bank that provides a payment product or solution that is innovative, flexible, reliable, and secure.

c.   Best Consumer Payments Company

For a fintech or a bank with outstanding payment services for individuals, corporates, and governments.

7.   CONSUMER PAYMENTS

a.  Best Point of Sale Company

For a fintech firm that provides innovative, secure, and efficient point of sale services.

b.  Best Small Business Payments Solution

For a Fintech or a bank that provide innovative and robust payment solution to small businesses.

c.   Best Credit Card Payments Solution

For a bank that provides an innovative and secured credit card solution

d.  Best Government Payments Platform

For a fintech that provides an innovative, efficient and secure payment platform for G2G, G2P, G2B payments.

8.  INVESTMENTS

a.  Best Retail Investment Platform

For a platform that creatively and sustainably enables individuals to invest in asset classes like bonds, stocks, or mutual funds

b.  Best Retail Investment Company

For a company provides outstanding retail investment services for individuals. 

c.   Best Stock Trading App

For a mobile application that creatively and sustainably gives investors the confidence to venture into the stock market without constant spoon-feeding.

d.  Best Institutional Investment Platform

For a platform that creatively provides institutional investors convenience and quick execution in placing orders anytime and anywhere

e.   Best Institutional Investment Solution

For the product or a solution that makes it easy for institutions to invest in stocks, bonds, and other assets.

9.  CONSUMER BANKING

a.  Best Consumer Banking Mobile App

For a bank with the most creative and secure mobile banking app that offers quick and instant banking and payments services. 

b.  Best Digital Bank

For a digital bank that provides convenient account opening in minutes, intuitive loan applications, scheduled payments, personal digital card management, trustworthy security, and Personal Finance Management (PFM).

c.   Innovation in Banking Award

For a bank with outstanding innovative culture in banking services.

10.  FINANCIAL RESEARCH AND DATA

a.  Best Overall Analytics Platform

For an analytic platform that provides simple, scalable, and accurate insights to drive the integration of data.

b.  Best Risk Management Service

For a firm that provides outstanding risk management services for the industry.

c.   Best Risk Management Platform

For a platform that sees risks that are not apparent, reduces business liability and provides insights and support for the Board of Directors

d.  Best Financial Research and Data Company

For a company that provides outstanding research and data services for the industry.

e.   Outstanding Legal Service Award

For a legal firm that provides outstanding legal services to the industry.

11. BANKING INFRASTRUCTURE

a.  Best Banking Infrastructure Platform

For a digital banking platform that creatively and sustainably digitizes bank operations, facilitates digital customer interactions, and allows banks to offer a host of digital financial products.

b.  Best Banking Infrastructure Software

For a core banking software offering a unified banking experience anytime, anywhere, on any device.

c.   Best Open Banking API

For the most outstanding Open Banking API in the industry.

12. IDENTITY AND PRIVACY

a.  Best Identify Verification Solution

For a solution or product that enables the seamless verification of customer identity and address in real-time.

b.  Best ID Management Platform

For an identity platform that manages the identities of users and devices in a centralized fashion.

c.   Best Identity as a Service (IaaS) Platform

For a platform that provides services like provisioning, risk, and even monitoring and identity governance for a complex business.

d.  Best Credential Management Solution

For a firm with an outstanding credential management solution that demonstrates the ability to validate the identity of online consumers and internal privileged users among others.

e.   Best Overall Digital Identity Solution Provider

For an organization that delivers outstanding identity solution to clients in the fintech and banking sector.

13. FRAUD PREVENTION AND TRANSACTION SECURITY

a.  Best Fraud Prevention Platform

For a platform that detects emerging fraud to uncover anomalies and patterns quickly and more accurately, and lowers fraud operations costs by reducing chargeback and manual review rates.

b.  Best Fraud Prevention Company

For a company that provides outstanding fraud prevention services to fintech and banks.

c.   Fraud Prevention Innovation Award

For a fintech or bank that creatively and innovatively deploys fraud prevention solutions.

Best Financial Transaction Security Platform

14. CROWDFUNDING

a.  Best Crowdfunding Platform

For a platform that creatively enables individuals and organizations to raise money to finance projects and businesses from a large number of people via online platforms.

b.  Best Crowdfunding Company

For an outstanding crowdfunding firm that enables individuals and organizations to raise money via online platforms.

15. INSURTECH

a.  Best InsurTech Solution

For a product or solution that simplifies underwriting, with automated processes and also delivers a new distribution method.

b.  Best InsurTech Company

For a carrier that uses technology to improve insurance products, innovate the sector and drive efficient services.

c.   Best InsurTech Startup

For an InsurTech startup that provides cutting-edge insurance services to the customers  

d.  InsurTech Innovation Award

For a carrier that demonstrates outstanding innovation culture at all level of its services.

16. REGTECH

a.  Best RegTech Solution

For a firm that helps fintech and banks to comply with regulations efficiently, and less expensive.

b.  Best RegTech Startup

For a Regtech startup that help fintech and banks to monitor, report, and comply with the regulation that usually would take a lot of time and cost if conducted manually

c.   RegTech Innovation Award

For a fintech or a bank that is creatively employing RegTech services to comply with regulations efficiently and less expensively

17. CRYPTOCURRENCY

a.  Best Cryptocurrency Purchasing Site

For a website that provides easy transactions, incredible security, short settlement times, and low fees for cryptocurrency transactions.

b.  Best Cryptocurrency Exchange

For the crypto exchange that offers a large number of supported cryptocurrencies and a high level of security. In addition, it must be a beginner-friendly platform and provides an advanced trading platform, making it a good option for professional traders as well.

c.   Best Cryptocurrency Wallet

For a crypto wallet that provides a good mix of security tools and user-facing features at a reasonable.

20. INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP

a. Best Employee Benefits Solution

For an HR and Payroll platform that gives users access to a wide range of services

b. Best FinTech CEO

For an outstanding Fintech CEO that has impacted the industry in many ways.

c.   Best Female Fintech CEO

For an outstanding female Fintech (FemTech) CEO that has impacted the industry in many ways.

d.  Best FinTech Startup

For a trendsetting and fast-growing fintech startup that is not more than three years old.  

e.   Best Employee Benefits Package

For a fintech firm that implements an innovative employee benefits package.

f.    Best Overall FinTech Software

For a financial software firm that has deployed software that helps fintech and banks improve operational efficiency.

g.   Best Overall FinTech Mobile App

For a fintech app that helps customers perform the following conveniently: personal finance, crowdfunding, money lending, investment, money transfer, P2P (peer-to-peer) lending, and more.