Interswitch, CeBIH Engage Industry Stakeholders on Security in Nigeria Payments Ecosystem

Interswitch, Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce company, recently partnered with the Committee of e-Business Industry Heads (CeBIH) to host the 2022 CeBIH conference tagged ‘Leveraging Ecosystem Synergy to Combat Fraud’.

The one-day conference, which drew a wide array of stakeholders from Nigeria’s financial services sector, was aimed at charting the course for mitigating fraud in the payments soace, and securing Nigeria’s payments ecosystem.

The collaboration between Interswitch and CeBIH underscores Interswitch’s commitment to spearhead conversations around payments especially with its recent efforts around the innovative solutions it provides to curb fraud associated with e-payments.

According to financial reports culled from Nigerian banks in H1 2022, three tier-one banks recorded over 26,877 fraud cases in the first six months of the year. This figure recorded, represented a 56.45 percent decline from the record between June and December 2021.

Reiterating the company’s focus on supporting and partnering with platforms that share in its vision to foster a greater, more inclusive ecosystem in Nigeria and on the African continent, Vincent Ogbunude, MD, Payment Tokens (Verve) at Interswitch, said, “Now is the time for us as leaders in the payment infrastructure space to collaborate and explore ways to take full advantage of the current technological revolution to reduce gaps that hold back truly inclusive and sustainable development in our sector, including the ubiquitous monster called fraud/cybercrime. Indeed, one of those key solutions we rolled out this year (Fraud-As-A-Service) is well aligned with the core theme of this year’s CeBIH conference.

Griffith Ehebha, Executive Vice President, Risk & information Security, Interswitch Group, also speaking during a panel session at the conference stated that if appropriate measures are put in place, fraud can be minimally reduced in the financial services industry.

He said “To mitigate fraud, Interswitch focuses on ensuring operational efficiencies, daily reconciliation, and tightened internal controls. While the issue of standardization is often taken for granted in many organisations, it is important that we maintain global standards in safeguarding our customers and businesses from fraud. This thinking forms the bedrock on which our products and solutions are built. We take pride in our automated systems, which are built in a way that it is able to detect any form of fraud,” he said.

While addressing attendees at the event, Celestina Appeal, Chairman, CeBIH said “The focus of this year’s conference is apt, considering the increase in volume and value of fraud incidents which seeks to undermine our collective efforts as an industry. The theme also underscores a major focus for the current leadership of CeBIH which is an effective combat against fraud through collaboration with all stakeholders, be it public or private sector.”

Platforms such as the CeBIH conference provide Interswitch and other industry players the opportunity to engage with key stakeholders and collaborators from the financial system with a view to improving their offerings to customers amid market demands, global trends, and insights from the operating environment.