The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday directed all commercial banks to resolve disputes arising from use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channel within three days.
Speaking at the ‘Meet The Executive’ forum organised by Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Lagos, CBN Director, Banking & Payment Systems Department, ‘Dipo Fatokun, said such resolution will help build more confidence in the payment system and bring more people into the financial services net.
He said some provisions of the regulatory framework for USSD such as the authentication measures for transactions, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), Date of SIM Swap, Date of Device change, International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) among others were meant to make the channel more effective.
Fatokun, who was represented by Assistant Director, Banking & Payments System Department, Taiwo Oladimeji, said maximum USSD transaction limit remains N100, 000 per customer per day adding that any amount above that requires customer to execute indemnity at the bank.
Speaking on the theme: Half-Year Review of Developments in the E-Payment Industry and Customer Protection, Fatokun said: “USSD transactions above N20,000 require two-factor authentication (2FA). No USSD financial service should be activated for customer unless the deactivation mechanism is put in place with effect from October, 2018. In addition, the CBN is currently working to properly structure and formalize the sandbox arrangement in Nigeria by collaborating with some infrastructure providers like the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to interact with FinTechs”.
Fatokun dded that the financial system is undergoing transformation through technology, adding that it is not only peculiar to the financial services sector, but all sectors of human endeavours.
“We are seeing new operators with technology savvy, more efficient models, and collaborations among new entrants as well as established participants in payments systems in ways that exhibit regulatory challenges. To meet up with the challenges, some countries have adopted regulatory sandbox approach which is not totally novel to the CBN. We are however working to properly structure and formalize the sandbox arrangement in Nigeria by collaborating with some infrastructure providers to interact with FinTechs,” he said.
He said a well-functioning National Payments System (NPS) is crucial to the financial sector development as it increases confidence in the financial sector by ensuring a credible, reliable and efficient payment system. He added that in recent years, the Nigerian payment landscape has experienced a lot of innovation, bursting with enterprise and reaching the unbanked and undeserved.
Speaking further, he said consumer protection, involves a whole range of laws, policies, structures, actions and behaviours designed to protect consumers from the abuse and exploitation of service providers.
“Consumer protection is critical in improving access and usage of financial products and services. Ensures that increase access and usage of financial services, translate into benefits for the economy and individuals. Helps protect consumers from probable market abuse and exploitation. Helps consumers benefit from well informed decisions. Helps consumers appreciate how best to use and manage financial products and services,” he said.

Heritage Bank partners NEFF on prevention of e-fraud
From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

Heritage Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s most innovative banking services provider, has partnered the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NEFF) on the prevention of fraud in the Nigerian banking system.
MD/CEO of the bank, Mr. Ifie Sekibo said at unveiling of the 2017 NEFF annual report in Lagos recently that the bank was very proud of successes recorded by the forum, remarking that the advent of the forum has undoubtedly created revolutionary effect in the conception of banking services in the industry.
Sekibo who was represented by Mr. Ike Williams, Executive Director, Services and CIO of Heritage Bank said financial institutions in the country had exploited these successes to introduce innovative banking products, especially e-products.
He said Heritage Bank would continue to support the forum and advised NEFF not to rest on its oars.
The Heritage Bank helmsman also commended Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, the out-going deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), operations as an exceptional leader who made invaluable contributions to the success of the forum, remarking that it will be difficult for any to surpass the achievements he recorded for the forum.
While unveiling the NEFF 2017 annual report, titled “Tightening the Belt of e-fraud Prevention: A 4 sided approach,” Adelabu, noted that in an environment that has witnessed fast-paced growth in both volume and value of electronic transactions, it would not be out of the ordinary if fraud attempts are also on the increase.
Adelabu who was represented by Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, Director of other Financial Institutions Department of the CBN added that a true test of resilience security and strength of a payments system is where losses were minimized, and measures taken to learn from those losses to forestall a recurrence.
According to him, in the last six years of the forum existence, NEFF has consistently acted as a catalyst in the formulation of cohesive and effective fraud and risk management strategies.
He said the forum has contributed to a year on year reduction in actual losses from e-fraud as reported by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBBS), which accounted for the 25.71 percent in actual loss value in 2017 when compared to actual loss figures for 2016.
Adelabu also commended NEFF for its decision to focus on fraud mitigation by engaging all stakeholders from banking, other eco system players, law enforcement agencies and telecommunication operators which has been put together to form the acronym BELT, from which collaboration should be tightened always.
In her contribution, Mrs. Christabel Onyejekwe, Executive Director, Technology & Operations, NIBBS, said the organization has been adding value to the eco-system through the deployment of electronic banking and formulation of measures to monitor fraud.
She said NIBBS would continue to collaborate with other stakeholders in the continued effort to reduce e-fraud in the system.

Wema Bank Appoints Adebise Managing Director
From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

Wema Bank Plc has announced the appointment of Ademola Adebise as its new managing director and chief executive officer following the retirement of Segun Oloketuyi taking effect July 1st.

Adebise, until his appointment is the Deputy managing director of the bank. His appointment is subject to approval by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN.
Adebise has been part of the Bank’s Executive management team since 2009 and has played a pivotal role in the execution of the Strategic turnaround plan of the Bank.He has over 28 years’ experience in the banking industry (inclusive of 4 years in management consulting), and has worked in various capacities in Information Technology, Financial Control & Strategic Planning, Treasury, Corporate Banking, Risk Management and Performance Management.

Before joining Wema Bank, Adebise was Head, Finance & Performance Management Practice at Accenture (Lagos Office) where he led various projects for banks in Business Process Re-engineering, Information Technology and Risk Management.

He is an alumnus of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) of the Harvard Business School and a holder of a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Lagos. He also holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Lagos Business School.

Adebise is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and Computer Professionals (Registration Council of Nigeria). He is an honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (HCIB) and a member of the Institute of Directors.

The Board of the Bank expressed confidence that Adebise’s appointment will lead to the continuedtransformation and growth of the Bank as it positions itself as a market leader in Nigeria’s retail banking segment through technology and innovation.