Nigeria: Central Bank of Nigeria adopted baseline standards for automated anti-money laundering solutions for financial institutions

On 10 March 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adopted the baseline standards for automated anti-money laundering solutions for financial institutions. The standard applies to all CBN-regulated financial institutions, mobile money operators, and payment service providers. The standard requires institutions to deploy automated anti-money laundering (AML) solutions covering customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, fraud detection, regulatory reporting, and data protection. It also requires implementation to be calibrated proportionately to each institution's size, risk profile, and transaction volumes. The obligations include integration with national identity databases, real-time sanctions screening, independent annual validation of Artificial Intelligence models, tamper-proof audit trails, and adherence to Nigeria's Data Protection Act. Institutions rated high or above average risk are expressly prohibited from operating AML solutions relying solely on standalone transaction feeds. It also provides that non-compliant institutions may face remedial directives and administrative sanctions under the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.