Terror financing: NFIU designs new platform for intelligence sharing

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has begun developing a Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration framework, as it collaborates with regulators, banks, insurance firms, fintech companies, virtual asset service providers, technology firms, and other stakeholders to identify emerging financial threats and disrupt illicit financial networks.

The agency revealed that they recently discovered an emerging crowdfunding network being used to gather and transfer funds for terrorist activities. Terrorist financiers were opening bank accounts under women's names and utilizing phone numbers for mobile banking or account alerts that were not registered to the account holder or the true beneficiary.

The proposed framework aims to enhance collaboration with the mentioned actors and strengthen Nigeria's financial system's integrity and resilience. Hafsat Abubakar Bakari, representing the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, stated that the agency has transitioned from discussing the initiative to designing and implementing the proposed framework.

Felix Obiamalu, the Unit's General Counsel, emphasized the shift from dialogue to commitment and implementation, stating that the goal is to jointly determine the partnership's structure, operation, value, and long-term sustainability.

The Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration is intended to offer a trustworthy platform for public and private sector institutions to share pertinent intelligence more effectively, strengthening the country's response to increasingly complex forms of financial crime.