NIBSS Backs Stronger PalmPay Controls as Digital Fraud Risks Evolve

 The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has highlighted the importance of stronger, technology-driven controls as financial fraud increasingly shifts towards impersonation, social engineering and unauthorised account access.

 Tosin Obadimu, Head of the Fraud Management Department at NIBSS, said PalmPay’s upgraded Security Center provides customers with multiple safeguards designed to strengthen verification and reduce exposure to high-risk transactions.

 The platform combines a real-time Security Check with tools including Large Transaction Shield, Night Guard, USSD account and card locks, as well as alerts for suspected fraud recipients, duplicate transfers and logins from new devices.

 According to Obadimu, bringing these controls together can strengthen protection against social engineering and account takeover while improving the reporting, tracking and recovery of funds involved in fraud incidents.

 The development comes as fraudsters continue to exploit customer trust by impersonating financial institutions and other legitimate entities to obtain sensitive information or persuade users to authorise transactions.

 Samuel Oluyemi, Chief Operating Officer of PalmPay Nigeria, said fraud management requires continuous innovation as customer behaviour and digital financial services evolve.

 PalmPay said effective fraud prevention requires shared responsibility among financial institutions, payment service providers, regulators and customers, adding that its security controls would continue to be reviewed in response to emerging threats.

 The focus on layered controls also reflects the wider payment industry’s shift towards real-time fraud detection, transaction monitoring and faster incident response.

Compliance Takeaway…

 Fraud prevention is increasingly a control obligation, not merely a customer-service function. Payment providers must continually assess emerging threats, strengthen transaction monitoring and provide customers with effective tools to detect, stop and report suspicious activity.

 For fintechs and other payment operators, the compliance benchmark is moving from reacting to fraud to demonstrating that reasonable preventive controls are built into the customer journey

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