E-Financial
Fight Against eFraud Demands ‘Hardened’ Technology Platforms- Isiavwe
Technology platforms must be hardened with layered security; encryption and tokenization to ensure that the payments systems are safe, said David Isiavwe, President, Information Security Society of Africa Nigeria (ISSAN), adding that organizations must have adequate firewalls and end-point security to ensure enterprise wide protection.
The global economy loses USD455Bn annually. Juniper research recently predicted that the rapid digitization of consumers’ lives and enterprise records will increase the cost of data breaches astronomically to $2.1 trillion globally by 2019, increasing to almost four times the estimated cost of breaches in 2015.
Isiavwe made the remark during his presentation titled: Addressing ePayment Fraud: Exploiting the Technology, at the 7th Annual Payment Systems & Fraud Conference 2016 organised by E-PPAN in Lagos on Tuesday, stressing that frauds are expected to increase – “as cyber criminals will follow the money in an integrated manner onto the ePayments space”.
He warned delegates at the conference that fraudsters constantly rehash old fraud schemes with a little variation in their modus operandi to carry out their attacks on unsuspecting users, with the results leading to surge in Card Skimming; Phishing Sites; DDoS attacks; Ransomeware; Third Party Payment Application Compromise; Rogue Mobile Applications and System Abuse by Rogue Merchants.
He listed current disturbing issues with regards efrauds in the ecosystem to include: “On Friday 21st October, a DDoS attack on Dyn Inc, an internet domain directory, took major sites like Amazon, Twitter, Netflix and Paypal offline. New World Hackers have claimed responsibility for the attack which they said was in the magnitude of 1.2 terabits per second, which is double the strength of the attack which took down kerbsonsecurity.com last month;
“In an essay titled ‘Someone Is Learning How to Take Down the Internet,’ security expert Bruce Schneier said last month that major internet infrastructure companies were seeing a series of worrying denial-of-service attacks. He said, ‘Someone is extensively testing the core defensive capabilities of the companies that provide critical internet services,’ and “in Q2 2016, attacks continued to become more frequent, persistent, and complex”’.
He said that hence mobile has become the primary means of internet access for the majority of Nigerians online as confirmed in a GSMA ‘The Mobile Economy Africa 2016 report, ‘the number of mobile internet subscribers tripled in the last five years to 300 million by the end of 2015, with an additional 250 million expected by 2020; the use of mobile applications, SMS, USSD and most recently, QR codes for transactions have become common place in the Nigerian epayment space, therefore, “securing the technology is imperative to ensure the continued growth of the use of mobile. The service providers have to ensure end to end encryption of data and more reliable and user friendly authentication”
The ISSAN President said, “With the increase in the use of mobile devices in the ePayment space, there has been an increase in the proliferation of malware targeting smart phones
According to Ars Technica Google Play was recently found to be hosting more than 400 apps that turned infected phones into listening posts that could siphon sensitive data out of the protected networks they connected to’. According to Fortune.com ‘For a ten week period, Bit9 + Carbon Black researchers analyzed over 1,400 malware samples that targeted the Apple operating system.
“They found that 948 of the samples appeared in 2015 compared to 180 samples that were traced back to 2010 through 2014.’ A recent report on iOS malware attacks by the security firm Bit9 + Carbon Black found that more malware affected iOS devices in 2015 than the previous five years combined. Bringing this all home, we need to develop capabilities to identity and if possible block the spread of identified malware. Encryption, Tokenization and Smart authentication need to be employed in the development and deployment of our offerings in the ePayment space”.
According to him, resilient systems have to be deployed for ePayment transaction processing to achieve 99.99% uptime, as these include call center technology as well as intelligent fraud detection and prevention systems to accurately analyze customer behavior and spending patterns with minimal false positives.
Referring to ‘Digital Payment Strategies: Online, Mobile & Contactless 2014-2019 Report’ by Juniper Research, he said that financial industry expects activities in the ePayments space to grow significantly in the next few years as new products are expected to be developed. Indeed, the annual transaction value of online and mobile payments is predicted to hit $4.7 trillion by 2019.
“Experts have also predicted that traditional banks (as we know them today) may not be alive in the next 20 years as the ePayments space would revolutionize banking and take over the financial services space”.
To this end, Isiavwe called for increased smart systems in place for continuous monitoring and incident prevention, detection as well as swift response mechanisms to provide round the clock protection.
“The key is to leverage on technology to ensure that the e-business platforms are safe, reliable and always available to the average consumer”.
Earlier, Onajite Regha, CEO of E-PPAN, said that the risk of e-payments fraud are real and multiplying daily in the country as consumers’ preference continue to shift toward e-payment options for daily transactions activities.
She added that the annual payment systems and fraud conference is designed to be a veritable rallying ground, for all stakeholders in the e-payment value chain to deliberate on payment systems and fraud knowledge.
The annual event is attended by senior level executives across industries such as banking & finance, telecommunication, judiciary, government agencies, healthcare, retail, SMEs and others, who network and brainstorm on the latest trends in technology innovations in electronic payment and learn winning strategies to manage risks and prevent fraud.
The next currency crisis could accelerate the shift of the roughly $315 billion global stablecoin market into a digital-dollar alternative for citizens in emerging economies, notably in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
As local fiat currencies face devaluation and high inflation, citizens and businesses are increasingly utilizing smartphone-based stablecoins (such as USDT and USDC) as hedges and primary mediums of exchange.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the rapid adoption of dollar-linked digital assets—particularly in countries heavily affected by inflation like Nigeria—poses significant risks to monetary sovereignty.
With up to 95% of surveyed individuals in some African markets preferring to receive payments in stablecoins over local fiat, the rising volume of these decentralized, cross-border channels weakens domestic currency demand and dilutes the effectiveness of local monetary policy.
IMF observed in a report titled “Stablecoins in Nigeria: A Growing Cross-Border Channel” noted that the widespread use of stablecoins poses risks to monetary sovereignty, particularly as more individuals and businesses turn to digital dollar-linked assets for savings and transactions.
Nodding in agreement is Future Investment Initiative Institute (FII Institute), a non-profit organisation run by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund.
FII Institute said that central banks face structural challenges.
And according to the institute, when citizens move savings out of national banks and into private digital wallets, conventional capital controls lose their grip.
Institutions like the Bank for International Settlements warn that interest-bearing stablecoins compete directly with domestic-currency deposits, complicating financial oversight and making smartphone-based transfers incredibly difficult for authorities to monitor.
In Nigeria, Naira depreciation has pushed users toward dollar-stablecoins, according to report by Gino Matos in cryptoslate.com.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a steady value by pegging its price to a reserve asset, such as a fiat currency (e.g., the U.S. dollar) or a commodity (e.g., gold).
They act as a bridge between traditional money and the digital asset world, providing the speed of crypto without the extreme price swings of assets like Bitcoin.
Federal government has reopened three federal government of Nigeria (FGN) bond issues valued at N1.2 trillion for subscription as part of efforts to raise long-term funds from the domestic debt market.
The Debt Management Office (DMO), which announced the offer on Tuesday, said the three reopened bond issues are each valued at N400 billion.
According to the DMO, the first offer is the January 2035 FGN Bond, a 10-year reopening, carrying an interest rate of 22.60 per cent per annum.
The second is the May 2028 FGN Bond, a 15-year reopening, with a coupon rate of 15.45 per cent per annum, while the third is the June 2037 FGN Bond, a 20-year reopening, also valued at N400 billion.
The office said the bond auction is scheduled for July 20, while successful subscriptions will be settled on July 22.
It explained that the bonds are offered at N1,000 per unit, with a minimum subscription of N50 million and additional investments in multiples of N1,000.
For the reopened bonds, the DMO said successful bidders would pay a price based on the yield-to-maturity that clears the auction, in addition to any accrued interest on the instruments.
Interest on the bonds will be paid every six months, while the principal will be repaid in full on the respective maturity dates.
The DMO reaffirmed that FGN bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Government and constitute obligations chargeable on the general assets of the federation.
It added that the bonds qualify as trustee investment securities under the Trustee Investment Act and enjoy tax exemptions for eligible investors, including pension funds, under the Company Income Tax Act and Personal Income Tax Act.
The bonds are listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and FMDQ Securities Exchange and also qualify as liquid assets for banks in computing their liquidity ratios.
FGN bonds are long-term debt instruments through which investors lend money to the Federal Government in exchange for periodic interest payments and repayment of the principal at maturity.
Gigbanc, Nigerian fintech startup, has announced it is winding down operations, after three years, citing a tough fundraising climate.
Paul Omoregie Okundaye, and Babatope Oni, co-founders of Gigbanc
The company, which set out to build cross-border financial infrastructure for African freelancers, creators, entrepreneurs and businesses, confirmed the decision in a statement signed by its co-founders.
“After careful consideration, Gigbanc’s leadership has made the difficult decision to wind down operations,” the company said, adding that the move “reflects the broader funding environment affecting early stage startups in Africa, a challenge that has been widely documented across the ecosystem.”
Since its founding, Gigbanc grew a community of more than 150,000 people across multiple countries and processed over $7.28 million (N10 billion) in payment volume, helping thousands of users receive their first international payment.
The company also ran conferences, fellowships and community events aimed at connecting entrepreneurs and creators across the continent.
`Despite the shutdown, Gigbanc said it is not walking away emptyhanded.
The company disclosed that it is in active acquisition discussions with a prominent financial infrastructure firm, with further details to be shared once the process closes.
Paul Omoregie Okundaye, co-founder and CEO, and Babatope Oni, co-founder and CTO, framed the closure as the end of a chapter rather than the erasure of Gigbanc’s impact.
“While Gigbanc is winding down operations, we don’t see this as the end of what we built together. Instead, we see it as the completion of an important chapter,” the founders said. “The relationships, lessons, community, and impact we’ve created will continue to outlive the company itself.”
The founders thanked users for their trust throughout the company’s run, citing everything from transactions and feature requests to bug reports and criticism as forces that shaped the product
“We leave this journey incredibly proud. Proud of our team, who gave everything they had.
Proud of the community that rallied behind us,” they said.
Gigbanc’s exit adds to a growing list of African startups that have shut down or scaled back operations in recent years as venture funding on the continent has tightened, with founders increasingly citing capital scarcity as the primary driver behind closures and consolidations.
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