Nigeria's reported losses from digital payment fraud declined significantly in 2025, falling from ₦52.26 billion in 2024 to ₦25.85 billion, according to a new report released by compliance platform Adhere in partnership with TechCabal. The figures come as Nigeria's digital payments infrastructure continues to expand rapidly, with instant payment channels processing trillions of naira in transactions each month through the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, making the country one of Africa's most active electronic payment markets.

Titled "The Compliance Reckoning," the report was unveiled at the Trust Frontier forum held in Lagos on Friday, where regulators, banks, fintech executives, and law enforcement agencies convened to discuss the future of financial crime prevention.

While the year-over-year decline in losses appears encouraging, the report cautions that it does not signify an overall reduction in financial crime. Fraud attacks have grown more targeted and sophisticated, resulting in higher costs when they succeed. Since 2020, reported fraud losses have climbed approximately 350%, even as the number of reported fraud cases has decreased. The trend mirrors a broader pattern across African fintech markets, where the rapid onboarding of first-time digital financial service users has expanded the pool of potential fraud targets faster than protective controls have matured.

A central finding of the report is that artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping financial crime. The report estimates that global financial fraud losses will reach $442 billion by 2025, with AI-enabled fraud expected to generate returns roughly 4.5 times higher than traditional schemes. Fraudsters are now deploying AI tools to fabricate realistic fake identities, clone voices, automate attacks, and personalize scams at a scale and precision previously unattainable. Consequently, the report concludes that financial institutions can no longer depend solely on conventional fraud controls.

The report also underscores a tightening regulatory landscape for Nigerian financial institutions. The Central Bank of Nigeria issued 17 regulatory actions over a 14-month period, targeting cybersecurity, anti-money laundering, and data protection, with compliance deadlines spanning from 2026 to 2028. According to the report, compliance has moved beyond mere penalty avoidance. Inadequate compliance systems now generate operational and reputational risks, particularly for institutions maintaining international banking relationships — a critical channel for Nigeria, which ranks among the world's largest recipients of remittances.

While AI is increasingly critical in combating financial crime, the report warns against treating technology as a standalone solution. It emphasizes that the institutions best positioned to counter the next wave of fraud will be those that integrate AI with stronger governance, enhanced customer risk profiling, continuous transaction monitoring, and deeper collaboration across the financial ecosystem.

"The next eighteen months will be decided by architecture, not by tools," the report stated, stressing that technology delivers optimal results when supported by robust compliance processes and coordinated industry action.

The report further highlights Nigeria's shortage of cybersecurity professionals alongside its rapidly expanding digital payments infrastructure. These combined pressures, it warns, place significant demands on banks and fintech companies to strengthen their detection capabilities. Failure to do so could allow increasingly skilled attackers to exploit existing vulnerabilities. The findings arrive as Nigerian financial institutions face mounting pressure to meet the CBN's staggered compliance deadlines, with the effectiveness of those preparations likely to shape the sector's fraud trajectory through 2026 and beyond.