CBN to Focus on Stopping Terrorism Financing

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is now focusing on stopping terrorism financing. This move is part of efforts to keep Nigeria's financial system safe from bad actors.

The bank shared this information in a statement on Tuesday. It was signed by Sidi-Ali Hakama, the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations.

CBN's focus will include managing risks related to terrorism financing, monitoring transactions, enforcing financial sanctions, and reporting any suspicious transactions that might relate to terrorism financing.

"This supervisory priority covers, at a high level, terrorism-financing risk management, terrorism-financing transaction monitoring, targeted financial sanctions implementation, and terrorism financing-related suspicious transaction reporting," the CBN said.

The bank will keep using a risk-based approach for supervision. This means they will conduct checks both on-site and off-site to improve controls against money laundering and terrorism financing across the financial sector.

"The Bank will continue to apply a risk-based supervisory approach, including on-site and off-site engagement, to support effective AML/CFT/CPF controls across the financial sector in line with existing legal and regulatory obligations," the CBN stated.

CBN also mentioned that this focus will help Nigeria work better with local and international partners to fight against terrorism financing and ensure the integrity of the financial system.

The bank said they will take further steps if needed. "Further supervisory engagement will be undertaken as appropriate," they added.

This is another effort by CBN to stop terrorism financing and prevent bad actors from misusing the financial system.

In June, CBN told banks and financial institutions to freeze accounts and assets tied to six individuals and four Bureau de Change operators involved in terrorism. This followed an update to the Nigeria Sanctions List on June 18.

Earlier in March, CBN made changes to the Revised Regulatory Framework for BVN and Watch-List for Nigerian banks. The changes included a temporary 24-hour watch-list for BVNs linked to suspected fraud, allowing only those 18 and older to enroll for BVNs, limiting phone number changes to once, and restricting access to BVN databases to CBN-licensed financial institutions.