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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced mandatory baseline standards for automated anti-money laundering (AML) solutions across the country’s financial sector.
Under the new directive issued on March 10, 2026, deposit money banks are required to achieve full compliance within 18 months, while other financial institutions, including mobile money operators and payment service providers, have been granted a 24-month window.
This timeline represents an extension from the initially proposed one-year transition period.
To ensure steady progress, the CBN has mandated that all affected institutions submit a detailed implementation roadmap within the next three months.
The regulator emphasised that manual monitoring is no longer sufficient for today’s digital financial landscape.
These new standards require systems that can detect and report suspicious transactions in real time, helping to combat the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of illicit funds while maintaining the overall integrity of Nigeria’s banking system.
The framework is highly comprehensive, encouraging the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, provided they undergo annual independent audits for bias and accuracy.
Systems must integrate seamlessly with “Know Your Customer” (KYC) databases and include specialised screening for politically exposed persons (PEPs) and sanctioned entities.
The CBN warned that failure to meet these requirements will result in stiff administrative penalties and legal sanctions for both the institutions and their management teams.
