UBA fraud awareness week: Panellists highlight collaboration, advanced cybersecurity to combat fraud

Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, hosted a high-level panel session as part of activities to mark its annual Fraud Awareness Week with the theme “Combating Fraud Risk and Cyber Theft in Digital Banking.”

The hybrid session, which was hosted at the UBA Head Office in Lagos on Friday, was well-attended by regulators, experts and professionals, as well as stakeholders from the financial services and cybersecurity sectors, part of the Bank’s week-long event to synthesise and create awareness among various stakeholders .

Welcoming the panellists and the participants to the event, UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Alawuba, noted that the event remained one of Africa’s biggest and most influential anti-fraud campaign.

He said: “Over the past few years, we have reinforced a simple truth: fraud prevention is not an event; it is a culture and a collective responsibility; and what began in 2023 as a visionary initiative of the UBA team has now grown into a continent-wide movement, one that strengthens trust, protects customers, and fortifies the integrity of digital banking across Africa.”

He added that the week-long anti-fraud campaign culminated in deepening capacity to detect, deter, and defeat fraud at every customer touchpoint.

Multi-talented and multidisciplinary scholar-practitioner, Godwin Oyedokun, who gave the keynote speech, said because fraud can never be accidental in nature, and is always pre-planned, it is important to look at technology as a solution, where emphasis should move from a reactionary level to a predictive level.

“We need to focus on strategic imperative that will shift us from detection to prevention, so do not allow fraudulent activities to beat your processes. Make fraudulent activities less attractive. When you prevent, no matter how much you spend on it, it is still better than spending money to detect and restore,” Oyedokun stated.

Earlier in his address, UBA’s Group Chief Internal Auditor, Kayode Ajayi, who pointed out that the fight against fraud is a progressive fight, highlighted the bank’s proactive approach to fraud prevention, including continuous system upgrades, artificial intelligence-driven transaction monitoring, and round-the-clock cybersecurity surveillance across its African and global operations.

The panellists included Adebayo Adebeshin, Bright Anyanwu and Fiyinfolu Okedare, while the Chief Audit & Compliance Officer at Eko Electricity Distribution Plc, Sheri Adegbenro, moderated the session.

While commending UBA for taking the lead in driving fraud education and fostering open conversations around digital safety within the banking ecosystem, they emphasised the urgent need for stronger industry-wide collaboration, enhanced defence capabilities, and continuous investment in technology to effectively confront the evolving threats of fraud and digital theft in today’s fast-growing digital banking landscape.

Regulators and participants at the event included representatives from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria; the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC); the National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC); Chief Audit Executives of various banks, amongst others.

United Bank for Africa is one of the largest employers in the financial sector on the African continent, with 25,000 employees’ group wide and serving over 45 million customers globally. Operating in twenty African countries and the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France and the United Arab Emirates, UBA provides retail, commercial and institutional banking services, leading financial inclusion and implementing cutting edge technology.