The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) is mobilising banks, fintechs, insurers and other private-sector players in a fresh effort to detect and disrupt increasingly sophisticated financial crimes….
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) is mobilising banks, fintechs, insurers and other private-sector players in a fresh effort to detect and disrupt increasingly sophisticated financial crimes.
The initiative, the Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration (JFIC), is designed to establish a trusted platform for public and private institutions to share intelligence, identify emerging threats and strengthen Nigeria’s financial system.
The NFIU unveiled the proposed framework during a high-level stakeholder engagement in Abuja on Thursday, organised with the support of the British High Commission in Nigeria and the Convention for Business Integrity (CBi).
Regulators, banks, insurance companies, fintechs, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), technology firms and other stakeholders participated in the engagement.
Representing the NFIU Chief Executive Officer, Hajia Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, the Unit’s General Counsel, Felix Obiamalu, said the initiative had moved beyond consultation to implementation.
“We have moved from dialogue to design, to commitment and implementation,” Obiamalu said.
He said the immediate task was for stakeholders to jointly determine how the partnership would operate and deliver value.
“The objective is no longer simply to discuss the concept. It is to jointly determine what this partnership should look like, how it should operate, what value it should create and how it can be sustained over time.”
The British High Commission also backed stronger cooperation between government and industry in the fight against illicit financial flows.
Jehanzeb Khan, Illicit Financial Flows Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said effective public-private collaboration remained critical to addressing the threat.
Managing Director of the Convention for Business Integrity, Olusoji Apampa, said the private sector was deliberately placed at the centre of the process to ensure the proposed framework reflected realities within the financial industry.
Delivering the keynote address, former Chair of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, Xolisile Khanyile, described private-sector involvement as a national responsibility.
Khanyile urged Nigeria to adopt a practical and phased approach to implementing the collaboration.
“Trust, shared ownership and collaboration are the foundations of every successful public-private partnership,” she said.
She added that given Nigeria’s importance in the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework, the initiative was “timely and necessary”.
The meeting ended with broad stakeholder support for the proposed framework and a commitment to building a partnership that can improve intelligence sharing, strengthen early detection of financial threats and disrupt illicit financial networks.
The NFIU said the initiative reflects the growing need for government and industry to work together as criminals adopt increasingly sophisticated methods of moving and concealing illicit funds.
