Banks, fintech operators and other reporting entities submitted 42,082 Suspicious Transaction Reports to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit in 2025, as financial institutions stepped up compliance with anti-money laundering regulations amid tighter regulatory oversight.

The disclosures were contained in the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report, which also showed that the agency received 41,716,214 Currency Transaction Reports and 10,513 Suspicious Activity Reports during the year.

The report stated, “During the review period, the NFIU received a total of 41,716,214 CTRs, 42,082 STRs, and 10,513 SARs.”

The NFIU explained that it receives threshold-based disclosures, suspicious transaction and activity reports, as well as regulatory submissions on anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and counter-proliferation financing compliance.

It added that it works with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Insurance Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering to ensure reporting entities comply with relevant laws.

An analysis of the report showed that Deposit Money Banks remained the largest source of suspicious transaction reports, accounting for 38,715 filings, or about 92 per cent of the industry total.

Other Financial Institutions filed 2,185 STRs, while Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions submitted 1,029 reports. Capital market operators and insurance companies filed 104 reports, while Virtual Asset Service Providers, which include cryptocurrency service providers, reported 49 suspicious transactions.

Banks also accounted for the largest share of Suspicious Activity Reports, filing 8,313 of the 10,513 SARs received by the NFIU during the year. Other Financial Institutions submitted 1,816 SARs, capital market and insurance firms filed 295, while VASPs accounted for 89 reports. No Suspicious Activity Report was recorded from the DNFBP sector.

The report showed that financial institutions submitted more than 41.7 million Currency Transaction Reports during the year. Deposit Money Banks accounted for 37,214,139 reports, representing about 89.2 per cent of the total, while Other Financial Institutions filed 4,212,466 reports. Capital market and insurance companies submitted 289,296 reports, while VASPs filed 313 reports.

The NFIU noted that Section 11 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act requires financial institutions to report all transactions above N5m for individuals and N10m for legal persons within seven days. It added that Section 3(1) of the Act also requires financial institutions to report all incoming and outgoing transfers above $10,000 within 24 hours.

Quarterly data showed that banks’ suspicious transaction reporting increased steadily throughout the year, rising from 9,134 reports in the first quarter to 9,658 in the second quarter, 9,891 in the third quarter and 10,032 in the fourth quarter.

Currency Transaction Reports filed by Deposit Money Banks also rose consistently from 7,040,493 in the first quarter to 8,197,292 in the second quarter, 10,885,247 in the third quarter and 11,091,107 in the fourth quarter.

Among Other Financial Institutions, suspicious transaction reports stood at 451 in the first quarter and 432 in the second quarter, before increasing to 719 in the third quarter and easing to 583 in the fourth quarter. Suspicious Activity Reports from the sector rose from 453 in the first quarter to a peak of 569 in the third quarter before declining to 399 in the fourth quarter.

The report also pointed to growing reporting activity among Virtual Asset Service Providers. While no suspicious transaction reports were filed in the first half of the year, the sector submitted 17 reports in the third quarter and 32 in the fourth quarter.

It also filed 28 Suspicious Activity Reports in the first quarter, 12 in the second quarter, 24 in the third quarter and 25 in the fourth quarter. Currency Transaction Reports from VASPs also emerged only in the second half of the year, with 103 reports in the third quarter and 210 in the fourth quarter.

The NFIU further disclosed that reporting entities submitted 28,133,909 Politically Exposed Persons reports in 2025.

Deposit Money Banks accounted for the overwhelming majority of the filings, recording 7,263,557 reports in the first quarter, 5,658,079 in the second quarter, 6,235,585 in the third quarter and 8,225,572 in the fourth quarter.

Other Financial Institutions recorded a sharp increase from 12 reports in the first quarter to 617,286 in the fourth quarter, while capital market and insurance institutions filed 28,561 reports during the year. No PEP reports were filed by VASPs.

The report also highlighted compliance activities carried out by the agency during the year. It said the Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions Division conducted joint on-site examinations of 29 reporting entities across the real estate, casino, dealers in precious metals and stones, and consultancy sectors within the Federal Capital Territory.

According to the report, the exercise resulted in “20 new registrations on the RapidAML portal and subscriptions to NIGSAC” and the filing of 1,029 Suspicious Transaction Reports.

Compared with 2024, the report showed a sharp decline in suspicious transaction reporting. STRs fell by 40,061 from 82,143 in 2024 to 42,082 in 2025, representing a decline of about 48.8 per cent. Suspicious Activity Reports also dropped by 12,851, from 23,364 to 10,513, a decrease of approximately 55 per cent.

However, Currency Transaction Reports increased significantly by 15,896,495, rising from 25,819,719 in 2024 to 41,716,214 in 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of about 61.6 per cent. Politically Exposed Persons reports also rose by 6,667,621, from 21,466,288 in 2024 to 28,133,909 in 2025, an increase of about 31.1 per cent.

The contrasting trend suggests that while financial institutions reported substantially more threshold-based transactions and politically exposed person disclosures in 2025, the volume of suspicious transaction and suspicious activity reports declined markedly from the previous year, indicating a shift in reporting patterns following enhanced compliance measures and regulatory reforms.

Last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a draft framework aimed at modernising anti-money laundering practices across the country’s financial system by adopting intelligent, automated solutions.

In a circular dated May 20, 2025, and addressed to all regulated financial institutions, the apex bank stated that the proposed standards were in response to the growing digitalisation of Nigeria’s financial system and the increasing sophistication of financial transactions.

According to the CBN, the new standards are intended to enhance efficiency, improve detection accuracy, and ensure full compliance with both local regulations and international frameworks such as those established by the Financial Action Task Force.

Under the new regime, financial institutions will be required to deploy intelligent AML systems capable of real-time transaction monitoring and anomaly detection.

These systems must integrate AI and ML capabilities to perform behavioural pattern recognition, risk scoring, and adaptive learning to identify potentially suspicious activities, such as large cash deposits, cross-border transactions, and cryptocurrency dealings.

The standards also mandate that these systems interface smoothly with core banking applications, customer onboarding platforms, and internal transaction processors.

Automated reporting to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit is also a key requirement. AML platforms must generate Suspicious Transaction Reports, Currency Transaction Reports, and Foreign Currency Transaction Reports as required by law and be equipped with dashboards to support internal and external compliance oversight. (PUNCH)

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