Cases of cybercrimes, terrorism financing and money laundering in Nigeria could be tamed if the government adopts new technology, stakeholders said at a Fin-Crime Summit.

The stakeholders also gathered in Lagos in honour of Ehi Eric Esoimeme, who was Conferred with Associate Professorship by Rudolph Kwanue University (Liberia) and Full Professorship by African Union University (Ethiopia) for his contributions to the field of public law and financial crime compliance, said Nigeria must overcome the barriers to the speedy implementation of new technologies in the financial system.

According to the experts, new technologies in banks known as regulatory technology (RegTech), such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and advanced cognitive analytics/algorithms targeting customer identification and verification requirements as well as other regulatory frameworks to curb financial crimes.

Esoimeme, while speaking at the event, pointed out the absence of reliable data from the government, outdated national risk assessment on money laundering, terrorism financing, lack of explicit guidance on the use of financial technology for data sharing and the lack of explicit regulatory requirements as major challenges.

According to him, cyber-attacks, insider fraud and ineffective information sharing for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) purposes also prevent financial institutions from recording the much-needed results in curbing financial-related crimes.

To effectively address national, legal, institutional and operational barriers, Esoimeme said banks and other financial institutions need tools to enhance the overall capabilities of technological innovation.

He asked Nigeria to update its national risk assessment regularly to reflect the risk profile of the country, adding that the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) should maintain timely, adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information.

For institutional and operational reforms, Esoimeme recommended that banks and other financial institutions should ensure adequate staffing for proper monitoring of day-to-day compliance with cyber-security and process automation to mitigate cyber-attacks.

He urged financial institutions to dedicate sufficient human and technological resources to minimise the risk of cyber-attack.

Esoimeme, while identifying cross-border financial crime risks that are of priority concern to African Continental Free Trade Areas (AfCFTA), stressed that bribery/corruption, illicit finance activity, modern slavery, drug trafficking and trade-based money laundering.

Assistant Vice President – Compliance, HSBC Bangladesh, Rezaul Karim, outlined the consequences of ineffective anti-money laundering leadership and strategies for building and leading anti-money laundering teams.

Rezaul stressed leadership challenges and solutions as well as best practices for effective anti-money laundering leadership.

Prof. Paul Allieu Kamara, at the event, said prioritising anti-money laundering in AfCFTA implementation would help to resolve complex problems.