Oracle has announced Oracle Financial Crime and Compliance (FCCM) Management Monitor Cloud Service. With the new solution banks, fintechs, and other financial services companies can gain a holistic, centralised view of their FCCM efforts, enabling them to identify potential issues faster and, proactively manage risk to thwart criminal activity and reduce compliance costs.

With its granular reporting capabilities, the system also helps banks demonstrate effective FCCM efforts to regulators and other stakeholders using customised, visually rich rolebased reports aligned with anti-money laundering (AML) and FCCM requirements.

The new solution is part of Oracle’s suite of FCCM and AML SaaS solutions that can easily be integrated into any financial institution’s workflow.

“Oracle Financial Crime and Compliance Management Monitor Cloud Service helps banks understand financial crime risk within their business so they can manage and report that risk more effectively,” said Jason Somrak, chief of product, Financial Crime and Compliance, Oracle Financial Services.

“With the solution, they will be able to surface critical information and access deeper insights with much more granularity and preciseness,” Jason said.

It is critical for banks, fintechs, and other financial services companies to continue to improve their FCCM capabilities amidst ever-increasing sophistication in financial crime tactics, ongoing regulatory scrutiny, and the rise in the overall volume of transactional data in digital banking.

To address this need, Oracle Financial Crime and Compliance Management Monitor Cloud Service offers a sophisticated and comprehensive business analytics reporting system with a dashboard approach designed to meet the unique needs of chief AML officers and their teams.

This role-based solution uses typologies based on various people, organizations, and their characteristics in the context of various types of financial crime, and provides those responsible for compliance programs with access to critical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics.

This enables banks to address FCCM issues more effectively, assess financial crime risk across various business units, and make proactive decisions for financial crime risk management and strategic planning.

Key features include: Interactive Visualizations: choose from a variety of chart types, including bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, heat maps, and more, to convey data in the most compelling way for each unique audience.

Drill-Down Capabilities: obtain more detailed data by clicking on specific elements, which provide deeper insights. Data Filters: filter the data displayed on the dashboards to focus on specific time periods, categories, or other criteria.

Report Customisation: create reports based on their specific requirements. “ In today’s complex financial crime compliance landscape, institutions grapple with many operational challenges, risking inefficiency and overlooked threats,” said Chuck Subrt, Head of Fraud & AML, Datos Insights.

“Organizations need innovative strategies that can modernise operations while striking a delicate balance between operational efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency. Oracle’s new cloud service provides more real-time visibility into compliance activities, facilitating more precise and comprehensive reporting.

Despite recent reforms to Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act, journalists continue to be targeted for publishing news in the public interest, with four reporters being charged under the law last month, according to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide.

Cybercrime laws and other regulations governing online content have been widely used to jail journalists around the world.

In Nigeria, at least 29 journalists have faced prosecution under the cybercrimes law since it was enacted in 2015.

CPJ had warned that February’s amendments to the law, which followed years of advocacy by human rights groups and CPJ, still left journalists at risk of prosecution due to an overly broad definition of what is a criminal offense. Since the law was reformed, it has been used to summon, intimidate, and detain journalists for their work.

On September 20, police in western Lagos State separately arrested Olurotimi Olawale, editor of the privately owned National Monitor newspaper, and Precious Eze Chukwunonso, publisher of the privately owned News Platform website, Nigerian Guild of Investigative Journalists’ president,  Abdulrahman Aliagan, told CPJ.

On September 25, police arrested Rowland Olonishuwa, a reporter with the privately owned Herald newspaper, in western Kwara state and Seun Odunlami, publisher of privately owned Newsjaunts website, in nearby Ogun state, Aliagan and Kwara-based journalist Dare Akogun told CPJ.

“Nigerian authorities should immediately release journalists, Olurotimi Olawale, Precious Eze Chukwunonso, Rowland Olonishuwa, and Seun Odunlami, and swiftly drop the cybercrime charges against them,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa Program, from New York. “Since Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act became law, it has been used to arrest and prosecute journalists, and these arrests emphasize that the recent reforms to the law have not reversed that trend.”

On September 27, the four journalists were charged in a Lagos federal court with violating sections 24(1)(b) and 27 of the Cybercrimes Act for reporting that implicated Segun Agbaje, chief executive officer of Guaranty Trust Bank, in alleged fraud worth 1 trillion naira (US$600 million) according to Aliagan, Akogun, and a copy of the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ.

Section 24 of Cybercrimes Act relates to pornographic or knowingly false messages “for the purpose of causing a breakdown of law and order, posing a threat to life, or causing such messages to be sent,” according to a copy of the law’s amendments signed by President Bola Tinubu in February. Violation of this section is punishable with up to three years in prison and a fine of 7 million naira (US$4,200).

Section 27 relates to attempts to violate the law and conspiracy, as well as aiding and abetting. Conniving to commit “fraud using computer system(s) or network” carries a variable punishment based on the violation and/or up to seven years in prison and a requirement to refund or forfeit stolen funds, according to the same copy of the amendments.

The journalists pleaded not guilty and were remanded at a Lagos correctional center, pending a bail hearing on October 4, Aliagan and Akogun told CPJ.

Although the police compelled the journalists to take down their articles, Nigeria’s federal House of Representatives subsequently announced an investigation into the bank over fraud allegations.

GTBank’s chief communications officer Oyinade Adegite confirmed to CPJ by phone that the bank had sought to have the journalists charged with cybercrime over their reporting, which she said was “defamatory.”

CPJ’s call and text messages to request comment from Lagos State police spokesperson Hauwa Idris-Adamu on September 27 went unanswered.

Credit…. Committee to Protect Journalists

Foremost information technology (IT) solution provider, AI Afrique, has introduced a platform that will bridge the gap of developmental innovations between the advanced world and regions that were historically left behind during major global advancements, particularly, Africa.

Dr. Koyi Ugboma, Founder/CEO of AI Afrique, disclosed this in a statement, that the platform will make up for challenges hitherto faced by Africa through different phases and aspects of global advancement.

He said: “Africa, in particular, was not part of the Industrial Revolution, missed out during the Avant Garde era, and lagged behind during the microchip era. Now, as AI driven by data science reshapes the world, we aim to ensure that Africa does not miss   this critical moment.”

Launched on 20th of September, 2024, the platform, also known as AI Afrique, according to the founder will foster relevant connections and effective learning experiences in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analysis, by empowering enthusiasts in Africa to be part of the global AI movement.

Explaining how the platform works, Ugboma said: “Mentors choose their areas of expertise, while mentees indicate their interests.”

He stated further that the platform is designed to bring mentees across Africa’s AI ecosystem in contact with experts from within and outside the continent. This, he explained, will promote collaborative growth, support peer connections, and facilitate exchange of knowledge in multiple languages.

While stressing that the platform is designed to engender relevant connections and effective learning experiences in the field of AI and data analysis, Ugboma noted that the system is in-built with a simple questionnaire that helps to select and match mentors, mentees, and peers in the field of AI and data analysis for the best possible and mutually beneficial collaboration.

“Mentees can connect with one another to collaborate, discuss challenges, and explore opportunities to improve their skills.”

Ugboma added that his organisation is focused on “building skills in Adaptive, Predictive, and Generative AI, connecting experts and learners in these cutting-edge fields.”

In addition to inspiring actions towards a deepened AI inclusion in Africa and other developed countries, the platform offers advertising space for academic lectures, educational materials, AI products, and more, giving learners and professionals an easy way to explore and access resources that support their growth.

Ugboma also explained further that his organisation has developed a strategy to sustain its operations by charging a minimal membership fee to all members.

Encouraging interested members of the public to sign up to the platform and benefit from immense opportunities it offers, the AI Afrique CEO said the fee is meant for the maintenance of the ‘platform content, and technical staff. He said the fee charged will ensure the long-term “viability and impact of our initiatives. Our financial platform has been built, tested, and is fully capable of servicing members globally,” he added.