Nigerian banks, fintech companies and other financial institutions have been told to strengthen protection against cyberattacks and vulnerabilities involving outside technology providers, as growing interconnection raises the risk of disruption spreading through the financial system.
Key takeaways
- CBN official Rakiya Yusuf issued the warning at a banking conference in Abuja.
- Dependence on fintechs, payment firms, cloud platforms and technology vendors is creating additional systemic-risk channels.
- A weakness at one connected institution could quickly affect others and threaten financial stability.
- Financial-sector resilience requires maintaining essential services during an incident and restoring operations rapidly afterwards.
Technology links create wider exposure
Rakiya Yusuf, director of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Payments System Supervision Department and chair of the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum, made the comments on Wednesday at the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Abuja.
Speaking at a session called “Navigating Cyber and Systemic Risks in the AI-Driven Future of Banking: Implications for Financial Stability and Business Resilience,” Yusuf said the expanding use of fintech companies, payment service providers, cloud operators and other vendors was opening fresh avenues for both cyber threats and system-wide instability.
Resilience must extend beyond individual firms
She cautioned that a security or operational weakness affecting a bank, fintech, payment provider or technology supplier could move swiftly through the network of linked institutions. Yusuf described the potential chain reaction as a “one-fire” effect that could undermine the financial system as a whole.
For that reason, Nigerian financial institutions need to look beyond protecting their own internal infrastructure and reinforce controls throughout the broader financial ecosystem, she said. Resilience, in her assessment, means more than stopping an incident: institutions must be able to keep vital services running during disruption and restore normal operations quickly once it has passed.
