Nigeria's Central Bank and NCC Sign Agreement to Combat Fraud via Real-Time Mobile Number Verification

Gate News message, April 21 — Nigeria’s Central Bank (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) signed a formal agreement on Monday establishing the Telecom Identity Risk Management System (TIRMS), which will give banks real-time access to telecom data to verify mobile numbers linked to transactions.

The system allows financial institutions to check whether a mobile number has been recently swapped, recycled, flagged for suspicious activity, or gone inactive before a payment clears. This addresses a critical vulnerability in Nigeria’s digital payments system, where SIM swaps and compromised phone numbers are commonly exploited to hijack accounts and bypass authentication. According to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement Systems (NIBSS), financial fraud in Nigeria fell 51% to ₦25.85 billion ($18.7 million) in 2025, though losses had surged from ₦17.67 billion ($12.80 million) in 2023 to ₦52.26 billion ($37.86 million) in 2024.

The agreement establishes two joint committees focused on payment systems, consumer protection, and telecom identity risk management. Both regulators will coordinate on instant payments, QR-based transactions, and open banking standards to ensure infrastructure can scale reliably. The framework also strengthens consumer protection mechanisms, including faster resolution of cross-sector issues such as failed airtime purchases and improved complaint-handling systems.