The Central Bank of Nigeria, in collaboration with the Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) and the Association of Mobile Money and Banking Agents of Nigeria (AMMBAN), is working on a feature for PoS terminals to identify potential fraudulent transactions.
This feature will require specific Know Your Customer (KYC) details before processing certain transactions.
The initiative, which is nearing completion, is driven by the NeFF and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System, according to AMMBAN President Fasasi Sarafadeen Atanda. The feature will be noticeable on PoS terminals used by agents throughout the country, and its launch is expected in the first quarter of 2024.
In addition, a coalition involving security agencies such as the Nigerian Police and the Department of State Services, along with AMMBAN and NIBSS, aims to foster easy tracking of fraudsters at agent locations. The coalition proposes a common identification system for the over 1.7 million banking agents on AMMBAN’s database.
However, some stakeholders, like Femi Omegbenigun, CEO of 3Line Card, argue that the key issue is the existence of accounts and wallets not tied to real identities, rather than fraud originating at agent locations.
Meanwhile, as they await the introduction of the new feature, agents have begun implementing the Central Bank’s BVN-NIN policy, under which new customers must provide either a Bank Verification Number or National Identification Number when opening an account.
