The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has moved to tackle the surge in “authorised push payment” (APP) fraud by releasing draft guidelines that could force banks to repay victims within 48 hours once an investigation confirms their eligibility.
Released on November 26, 2025, the proposed framework is one of the most aggressive consumer-protection measures the apex bank has introduced in recent years, aimed directly at social-engineering scams that trick people into sending money themselves.
Under the draft rules, banks and other financial institutions must wrap up investigations into reported APP fraud cases within 14 working days. If the customer is found to have been genuinely deceived and meets the eligibility criteria, the full amount must be refunded no later than 48 hours after the probe concludes.
Banks that fail to spot suspicious transactions or freeze stolen funds in time will bear 100% of the loss, even if the money has already left their system.
“These scams are particularly insidious because the victim authorises the payment,” a senior CBN official explained. “Unlike traditional hacking, the fraudster never needs to breach the account; they only need to manipulate the account holder. The guidelines shift more responsibility to banks to protect customers in this new reality.”
Key features of the proposed rules include:
– Mandatory Early Warning Systems that flag unusual patterns, repeated complaints, and accounts previously linked to fraud.
– Dedicated fraud-analytics desks inside every bank.
– Board-level oversight of all fraud-prevention policies.
– Immediate investigation by the sending bank and notification of receiving banks within 30 minutes in cross-bank cases.
– Automatic escalation to the CBN’s Consumer Protection Department if the 14-day deadline is missed, with the regulator issuing a binding ruling.
– Full liability for any bank whose weak controls allow fraudulent funds to flow through.
Victims will only qualify for automatic reimbursement if they report the incident within 72 hours (with exceptions for genuine extenuating circumstances), cooperate fully with the probe, and show no evidence of negligence or collusion. Banks must provide round-the-clock reporting channels — hotlines, apps, USSD, email, and branch support.
In cases where neither the sending nor receiving bank is at fault, the two institutions will split the reimbursement cost 50-50.
The guidelines also place heavy emphasis on prevention and education. Banks will be required to run quarterly anti-fraud awareness campaigns in multiple Nigerian languages and submit detailed records of every APP case to the CBN every three months.
The CBN has opened a three-week public consultation period before finalising the rules, signalling that Nigeria’s fast-growing digital-payments ecosystem must balance speed and convenience with stronger safeguards against deception-driven fraud.
Consumer advocates have welcomed the move, calling it a long-overdue step to restore public confidence at a time when instant transfers have become the default for millions of Nigerians.
