Fintech Lawyer Calls for Adoption of Cloud Technology to Improve Governance

Nigerian financial institutions and Fintechs have been urged to regularly review their governance frameworks, to ensure their relevance and effectiveness in the evolving cloud environment.  

This call was made by Mr Gbenga Haastrup, at a discussion forum at the just concluded Regtech Africa Conference 2023 held in Lagos, with the theme ‘Elevating National Policy on Financial Inclusion, Consumer Protection and Cyber Security’.

He stated that implementing effective governance for cloud computing initiatives, is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring, evaluation, and adaptation, and that financial institutions need to collaborate with stakeholders, seek feedback, and make adjustments as needed to optimise the governance practices for cloud computing initiatives.

 Whilst commending regulators like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for issuing regulations, including the Risk Based Cybersecurity Framework and Guidelines for DMBs/PSPs (in 2018) and OFIs (in 2022) and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation 2019 (NDPR) respectively, which have strengthened the ecosystem, he urged the Regulators to also continually update and improve regulations and compliance efforts to cater for emerging risks and threats, as cybercriminals are constantly upping their skill levels and the regulatory and compliance effort would also need to evolve proactively and accordingly, to be effective.  

Mr Haastrup, who is a Lawyer and one of the pioneer legal and compliance thought leaders in Nigeria’s Fintech industry, also advised that, as financial institutions and Fintechs increasingly adopt cloud technology, they should develop and implement well-defined cloud strategies that align with their corporate objectives and prioritise investing in robust security and compliance measures, as data and cybersecurity breaches come with heavy financial losses, fines and reputational damage.

Other Speakers at the cyber security session which was moderated by Mrs Adedoyin Odunfa (MD, Digital Jewels) were Mr Femi Jaiyeola (CCO of Access Bank) and Mr Samuel Asiyanbola (of PWC), who all concurred that cloud technology is the way to go for Financial Institutions because of its attendant advantages in today’s technological landscape, and urged banks and other businesses that have or intend to adopt cloud technology to ensure that their legal and technical teams do detailed due diligence and evaluation of the cloud service providers and the terms of engagement,  so as to get the best and also adequately protect themselves.