Digital payments and electronic transactions in Nigeria have continued to surge. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in its inaugural CBN Fintech Report, revealed that nearly 11 billion transactions were processed through the NIBSS Instant Payments (NIP) platform in 2024, up from five billion in 2022. The figure places Nigeria among the world’s leading adopters of real-time payments and at the forefront in Africa. However, the rapid expansion has also come with its own challenges.
Nigeria’s growing reliance on digital payments has made discussions around trust, security, and regulatory compliance important conversations in the country’s financial system. And financial institutions that want to stay ahead of the curve have continued to implement measures to counter fraud and protect customers’ funds and information.
OPay says it’s investing in compliance, risk management, artificial intelligence (AI) and governance as part of efforts to build a safer digital payments ecosystem. The fintech adds that over the last three years, it has independently developed an Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) risk-control and compliance system that combines AI, big data, and real-time transaction monitoring to identify and intercept suspicious activity before a customer even notices it.
Rather than waiting until a transaction is flagged by a customer for investigation, OPay wants to prevent them from happening in the first place before they cause wider damage.
Overview of OPay’s security system
OPay says its risk-control framework has more than 5,000 real-time monitoring and blocking rules and over 10,000 risk feature profiles designed to identify unusual transaction behaviour.
The system, according to OPay, also monitors large volumes of transactions in real time and, whenever suspicious activity is detected, it immediately triggers action. The fintech claims the system has helped keep its transaction fraud rate below 0.001%. a figure in line with the CBN’s push to cut fraud losses to less than 0.001 per cent of total transactions by leveraging artificial intelligence and advanced identity verification systems.
Beyond the numbers, a system capable of stopping suspicious activity at the point of transaction can prevent illicit funds from moving through the financial system and reduce customer losses. It also makes using digital payment channels seamless for legitimate users and extremely difficult for fraudulent entities to exploit.
Tackling identity fraud
One of the most prevalent risks that digital financial institutions face is identity fraud. NIBSS data shows that digital payment and identity fraud in Nigeria fell by 51% to ₦25.85 billion in 2025, down from ₦52.26 billion in 2024. The decline is credited to stricter identity verification policies— the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and the National Identification Number (NIN) mandated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). However, this hasn’t eliminated the problem.
With fake or stolen identities, an imposter can create accounts, move illicit funds, or commit fraud. OPay says it is countering this by introducing live facial detection capabilities to detect impersonation and other attempts to bypass identity controls, thereby providing an early layer of protection for customers and the wider payment ecosystem.
The company says its systems have identified and blocked more than one million fake identities, while its facial live-detection technology blocks tens of thousands of attacks every day.
How OPay is incorporating AI to tackle fraud
OPay says it has integrated AI models and intelligent agent technology into its risk management processes. The system aids the automated analysis of customer and transaction information and can easily detect abnormal account behaviour and potential threats in time before any major damage is done.
When suspicious activity is confirmed, OPay says its controls can support the interception of such transactions and, where appropriate, the permanent suspension of accounts. This real-time approach is best suited in today’s financial landscape, where cybercrime and financial fraud have become more sophisticated. Rather than waiting to investigate a suspicious transaction, potential risks can be nipped in the bud as they develop.
According to OPay, its customers won’t even notice much of this protection because it happens in the background; what’s visible to the customer, however, is trust and the fact that potential situations that could have resulted in financial loss are stopped before they reach them.
Compliance is important because it protects customers and other stakeholders using the financial system. With Know Your Customer (KYC), companies can verify identities and reduce account misuse, while AML controls flag unusual or suspicious transaction patterns and potential financial crime.
Stronger controls can create a more secure environment in which businesses can receive and make payments with greater confidence. It’s also important to protect customers’ personal information, strengthen cybersecurity measures, and provide users with practical guidance on protecting their accounts from attacks. While technology can detect many risks, an uninformed user will still leave gaps that make the system susceptible to attacks. It’s why customers are an important part of the overall security framework.
OPay believes that investment in compliance spans technology, people, processes, and governance. Collaboration with regulators, financial institutions, technology companies and other industry stakeholders is necessary to maintain a secure and trusted digital financial system. This synergy across the board strengthens operational resilience and helps organisations respond more effectively to emerging financial and cyber risks.
Stronger compliance benefits not just an individual financial institution; it increases confidence in digital finance, protects legitimate businesses, reduces opportunities for financial crime, and strengthens the integrity of Nigeria’s financial system globally. It’s also capable of boosting financial inclusion because when consumers view digital financial services as safe and secure, they are more likely to use formal channels for everyday payments and even recommend them to others.
The scale and complexity of financial crime mean no institution can address the challenge alone. Such collaboration can help the industry respond more effectively to emerging risks while allowing digital financial services to continue developing responsibly.
Nigeria’s fintech sector is entering a period where the quality of risk management and customer protection will be as important as innovation and convenience. With OPay nurturing an ambition to reach a billion users by 2031, its investments in compliance and cybersecurity measures could help it earn users’ trust, but it will require the fintech to keep reinventing itself as fraudulent actors and cyber attackers continue to find new ways to outsmart fintechs.
