Financial Institutions Review Compliance Systems Ahead of CBN AML Requirements

Ugo Aliogo

Financial institutions are reviewing their compliance infrastructure as they prepare to implement the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new standards for automated anti-money laundering (AML) systems.

The review follows the submission of implementation roadmaps by banks, fintechs, payment service providers and other regulated financial institutions in line with the regulator’s requirements.

Industry stakeholders say the new framework is expected to accelerate investment in transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, customer risk assessment and other compliance technologies designed to strengthen anti-money laundering controls.

Commenting on the development, Fraud and Compliance Manager at Dojah, Mr. Bolaji Jimoh, said the new standards were prompting institutions to reassess their compliance processes.

“Many institutions have historically focused on customer verification at onboarding, but compliance expectations are increasingly extending across the entire customer lifecycle,” he said.

According to him, many organisations still operate separate systems for customer onboarding, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and risk assessment, creating operational challenges for compliance teams.

He noted that increasing transaction volumes, evolving fraud techniques and heightened regulatory expectations were encouraging financial institutions to adopt more automated approaches to compliance and risk management.

Industry analysts also believe institutions will face increasing pressure to improve transaction monitoring and customer risk oversight while maintaining operational efficiency.

They added that integrating customer onboarding, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and risk management into unified compliance systems could help institutions improve oversight and reduce manual processes.

Jimoh said organisations that strengthen their compliance infrastructure early are likely to be better positioned to meet regulatory expectations and improve fraud detection and risk management capabilities.