CIBN urges banks to strengthen cyber security

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has urged Nigerian banks to strengthen their cyber security architecture to protect themselves against attacks by fraudsters

Bayo Olugbemi, president/ chairman of council of the Institute made the call at the weekend while delivering his remarks at the 2020 CIBN Fellowship Investiture in Lagos.

The CIBN at its investiture formally conferred its honorary fellowship awards on 19 distinguished bankers in recognition of their contributions to the banking industry and the economy; 77 Associates as Elected Fellows while 105 Senior Management Staff of banks and the academia became Honorary Senior Members of the Institute at the event themed, ‘Financial Services in a post COVID 19 Environment: Strategic Imperative’.

Olugbemi told over six hundred participants who attended physically or connected to the event across the globe through Zoom and Youtube that Nigeria has been bedevilled by myriads of challenges this year ranging from drop in oil price, COVID-19 pandemic, the recent # End

SARS protests and the attendant pocket of unrests across the country and now the recession. The pace of these disruptive forces and their attendant effects on the financial service system has been intense.

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He maintained that the banking industry has remained resilient providing succour for businesses and millions of individuals across the country.

He said that banks will also continue to reinforce their risk management framework in tandem with government policies and urge the banks to consider conducting more market research on how customer needs might change in the Post COVID era. This would inform product development and process improvements.

In other way round, Kunle Elebute, senior partner, KPMG Nigeria and Chairman, KPMG Africa, while speaking on the “New Realities in the POST-COVID World: Strategic Imperatives”, told bankers that global CEOS are beginning to acknowledge that the new wave of technological advancement comes with risks that cannot be ignored.

The KPMG boss said that the effects of COVID-19 will drive new ways of working, new performance metrics and new ways of connecting with and managing employees, well beyond the “work from home” dimension.

Board and executive management are also increasingly aware that while they might not be the expert in the subject of cyber risk, they will be held accountable if there is a cyberattack that disrupts business performance, he said.

As a result of the pandemic and working in the remote environment, Elebute suggested that new productivity metrics need to be developed, but without being perceived as intrusive and maintaining a strong culture is as important as ever but much harder, he said.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.