Participants at a high-level engagment between representatives of finacial system actors and regulators met at a "high-level engagment" to co-design the proposed Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration (JFIC), in Abuja on Wednesday. The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) is planning a new framework for intelligence sharing collaboration, a move aimed at enhancing the integrity and resilence of the nation’s financial system.
Representatives of finacial system actors and regulators met at a “high-level engagment” in Abuja on Wednesday to co-design the proposed Joint Financial Intelligence Collaboration (JFIC). The meeting organised by the NFIU under the auspices of the British High Commission in Nigeria and the Convention for Business Integrity (CBi), brought together representatives of regulators, banks, insurance companies, fintech companies, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), technology firms and other stakeholders to work out the JFIC framework.
NFIU Chief Executive Officer, Hafsat Bakari, said in a statement on Thursday that “the collaboration will help identify emerging threats, disrupt illicit financial networks and strengthen the integrity of Nigeria’s financial system.” “The initiative seeks to create a trusted platform through which public and private-sector institutions can work together more effectively,” she wrote.
During the meeting, NFIU’s General Counsel, Felix Obiamalu, who represented Mrs Bakari at the event, said the process had moved beyond discussions about the proposed partnership. “We have moved from dialogue to design, to commitment and implementation,” Mr Obiamalu declared. He added that the focus was now on determining what the partnership would look like, how it would operate and the value it would create for participating institutions.
Delivering the keynote presentation, Xolisile Khanyile, former Chairperson of the Egmont Group and former Director of South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre, described private-sector participation as a national responsibility.