About Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum

About NeFF | Safety Tips | Media Center

The Nigerian Financial sector has shown a steady adoption of the e-payment channels. The parties, as well as all the other players in the financial sector, have been making concerted efforts in ensuring that the financial sector is moving in line with global trends in e-payment development with the view to ensuring efficiency in the system as well as customer satisfaction.

The adoption of the e-payment channels as a preferred channel of payment increases the incidence of electronic fraud. This heightened incidence of fraud therefore brought to the fore the need for the creation of a body (named "the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum", "NeFF" which consists of all relevant stakeholders to actively and proactively react to this challenge to safeguard integrity of the e-payment channels.

Why an Industry wide Fraud Forum?

• No one single institution can defeat fraud by themselves; a significant exposure exists by operating in isolation
• Fraud by its nature affects all institutions, and as such it is more effective to work as a group. In addition, customers do not perceive fraud as an issue with a specific bank, but with electronic payments overall, which eventually affects the entire industry and not just the institutions that have been impacted by fraud.
• An effective Fraud Forum will protect the integrity of the banking industry from criminal threat, as well as boost public confidence in the use of electronic payments
• Important stakeholders such as Law Enforcement agencies will be more likely to listen and commit resources to fight crime if they know they are dealing with an industry body who expresses a common opinion and requirement. The same also applies to other stakeholders such as payment service providers, card schemes, telecommunication companies, etc.
• Criminals will capitalize if there is disunity amongst the stakeholders (as has been experienced in the past, where the same fraudster attacks multiple banks for example, and is not caught due to lack of information sharing)
• Resources, expertise and finance can be shared more effectively by Fraud Forum members to resource fraud reduction projects and effectively target specific issues.
• Dealing with the players in the E-payment delivery value chain on risk requirements is made significantly easier because the Fraud Forum can articulate its common requirements.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of NEFF is to enable information exchange and knowledge sharing on fraud issues amongst key stakeholders, with the objective of ensuring a collaborative and proactive approach to tackling/mitigating fraud and limiting occurrences and losses. In addition, NEFF aims to serve as an official body to represent the industry’s position on fraud related issues, while proffering solutions that restore public confidence on card usage and electronic payments in general.

The key objectives of the Nigeria E- Fraud Forum are as stated below:

• Educating and informing all Banks and other stakeholders on various electronic fraud issues and trends (both locally and globally)
• Proactively sharing fraud data/information amongst banks and service providers, to enable prompt responses to prevent and/or limit fraud losses
• Formulating cohesive and effective fraud and risk management strategies, and defining key requirements as relates to e-payment security on behalf of the industry

Steering Committee Membership

The membership shall be made up of the following:

• Director, Banking and Payments System Department Central Bank of Nigeria - Chairman
• Chairman, Committee of e-Banking Heads
• Chairman, Committee of Chief Compliance Officers of banks in Nigeria
• Chairman, Committee of Chief Internal Auditors of banks in Nigeria
• Managing Director, Unified Payments Services Limited
• Managing Director, Interswitch Nigeria Limited
• Office of The National Security Adviser
• Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
• Association of Licensed Mobile Payment Operators (ALMPO)
• Electronic Payments Providers Association of Nigeria (EPPAN)
• Information Security Society of Africa, Nigeria (ISSAN)
• The following departments and office in the Central Bank of Nigeria;
• Consumer Protection
• Financial Policy and Regulation
• Information Technology
• Legal Services
• Banking Supervision
• Corporate Communication
• Shared Services Office

Structure

The Forum will consist of equal members and be chaired by the CBN. The Chairperson will be responsible for coordinating the activities, meetings and workplan of the forum. The forum will also have a secretariat whose role will include:

• Setting the meeting agenda
• Collating data from the respective parties, and analyzing trends and drawing out insights/implications for members of the Forum
• Managing the mailing list / circulation of action points
• Sending out notifications
• Ensuring presentations are prepared in a timely fashion
• Facilitating the sessions
• Managing communications/interface with other bodies, as appropriate

As the Forum evolves, the need to have sub-committees to handle various sub projects will be evaluated, and their mandates and deliverables defined at that time.

Responsibilities Of Members

There are clear expectations required from NeFF members in order to ensure the objectives are achieved.These responsibilities include:

• To report fraud occurrences as it happens in the format specified.
• To provide data on fraud incidences in the format specified. Typical data required would include Fraud type, Transaction date, Merchant name & location, Amount, Number of cards involved, and Outcome of investigation.
• To ensure agreed actions/fraud mitigation strategies are swiftly implemented within your institution.
• Commitment to supply resources to ensure the effective operation of the Fraud forum, where resource are defined as attendance at meetings, time to work on projects/initiatives, and financing specific projects as appropriate.
• Willingness to commit time and resources towards the aims and objectives of the fraud forum
• Full participation as required in Fraud Forum projects/activities as required, and leveraging your organization’s resources where appropriate
• Commitment to build an environment of trust, openness, and transparency
• Act as an advocate for the E-Fraud forum and its causes within your organization, and at large

Meeting Frequency

The general meeting holds once every two months, while the steering committee meets more frequently. The average meeting time will last for 3 hours, and will typically cover the following:

• Review of electronic fraud incidents and causes within Nigeria for the previous period
• Review of fraud trends globally
• Knowledge sharing (specific topic to be determined prior to each session)
• Review of action items - status and progress made.
• New agenda items / any other business

The secretariat should ensure an agenda is issued at least one week in advance to all Fraud Forum members to ensure the most efficient use of time and resources.


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