Banks’compliance heads seek more measures to curb fraud

The Association of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria (ACCOBIN) has highlighted the need for more measures to combat financial crimes in the country.

Adeboye Ogunmolade, chairman of ACCOBIN, said chief compliance officers play a crucial role in promoting economic growth and development as their responsibilities extend beyond simply combating financial crimes and countering terrorism.

He said given that financial crime is a global problem requiring a coordinated response, increased measures such as stricter enforcement are needed to prevent these crimes.

“To prepare ourselves for the solutions that future problems may pose, the learnings at this retreat will equip us with new strategies for evaluating, preventing and predicting these threats,” he said at the association’s recently concluded three-day retreat, themed ‘Building a Compliance Culture: Laying the Foundation for a Strong Future’.

Issues highlighted during the retreat were leveraging data analytics and artificial intelligence for compliance monitoring, addressing the effect of brain drain on compliance skillsets, fintechs and their impact on financial services, according to a statement.

Others were proliferation and terrorist financing guidelines, and the role of CCOs ineffective collaboration with regulators and law enforcement agencies.

The need for the yearly retreat is to build a stronger compliance culture in the Nigerian financial sector, Ahmed Ghali, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s zonal commander for Lagos, said.

According to him, the spate of fraud perpetrated through financial institutions ranging from money laundering, cybercrimes, kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria has led to an unprecedented focus on the depth and effectiveness of compliance and regulation.

“Therefore there is a need to make the most use of technology, thorough engagement of all employees, partnering with regulators and collaboration amongst all financial institutions,” he said.

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Jane Aihevba, deputy director of the Central Bank of Nigeria, described sound compliance culture as crucial to building strong institutions.

She said: “It must be applied from top to bottom to create an environment that fosters ethical conduct. Each employee must understand the importance of compliance and be bound by its principles.

“Your role as CCOs forms the backbone of organisation operations for efficient and effective execution. All policies within an organization should be aligned with all compliance efforts, and there must be access to information regarding regulatory changes so that meaningful interventions can be made on a regular basis.”