Nigeria’s banking industry has entered a defining moment with senior auditors warning that the convergence of regulatory pressure, cyber threats, macroeconomic volatility and global compliance demands has created a new level of risk that must be addressed with stronger institutional resilience and deeper audit oversight.

The warning came at the 63rd Quarterly General Meeting of the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria (ACAEBIN), where the practitioners called for a strategic repositioning of internal audit functions across the sector.

The Managing Director of Union Bank, Yetunde Oni, said the realities confronting the financial system required an urgent transformation in audit practice.

Represented by the Bank’s Chief Brand and Marketing Officer and Head of Customer Experience, Olufunmilola Aluko, Oni told participants that the sector was facing intersecting pressures that have reshaped the expectations from internal auditors.

“We are in a period where multiple waves of disruption intersect, including macroeconomic pressures that test balance sheets and liquidity, exchange rate volatility that destabilises projections, expanding digital ecosystems that introduce new risk vectors, cybersecurity incidents that grow in scale and sophistication, heightened regulatory expectations, and rising demand for sustainability and transparent governance,” she said.

Oni said internal auditors are central to maintaining trust, stability and ethical standards in the industry. She noted that the expanded role placed them at the heart of institutional governance.

“You are now strategic sentinels, key actors in strengthening institutional resilience, ensuring ethical conduct, and safeguarding public confidence in the financial system,” she stressed.

She highlighted the tightening global and domestic regulatory climate, pointing to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing demands, sustainability reporting pressures and heightened scrutiny from international partners.

The MD stressed that Nigeria’s growing exposure to cyber incidents has made digital security a core governance issue, saying: “Cybersecurity is no longer an IT issue; it is an enterprise-wide resilience issue and internal audit must play a leading role in validating, challenging, and strengthening our controls.”

On the economic front, she explained that currency liberalisation, inflation trends and global geopolitical shift have altered risk models and decision-making frameworks in ways that require sharper audit assessment.

She emphasised that the profession is moving into an era of real-time oversight. Oni added that emerging risks in digital banking, cloud environments, third-party ecosystems, fintech partnerships, climate exposure and complex payment flows require new knowledge and methodologies from the audit community.

According to her, the future audit leader must be “part technologist, part strategist, part risk philosopher and part culture builder,” with the capacity to influence behaviour and embed transparency and accountability across institutions.

ACAEBIN Chairperson, Aina Amah, said the global and domestic environment is moving too quickly for institutions to rely on old models of audit engagement. She noted that the theme of the meeting reflects the pressures currently reshaping financial governance.

She said: “The world is moving faster than ever, testing institutional agility and demanding even greater professional courage. Across the industry, heightened regulatory expectations around AML and CFT, cybersecurity, data privacy, sustainability and consumer protection are reshaping the boundaries of accountability.”

Amah linked current pressures to broader national and global realities, citing banking consolidation in Nigeria, geopolitical tensions, inflationary pressures and persistent FX volatility as contributors to what she called “a new framework of interconnected risks.” She said this environment requires internal audit not only to assure compliance but to strengthen foresight and strategic value across institutions. (The Guardian)

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