Tackling e-payment fraud with technology

As the world switched to social distancing and remote working, learning, shopping and electronic financial transactions, more opportunities have opened up for cyber criminals to prey on unsuspecting citizens and businesses.

Banks have therefore come to realise that more people will adopt e-payment channels that are safe and secured for their transactions.

That explains why many lenders are prioritizing bank account protection and provision of right information to customers for the safety of their transactions.

Banks are also making more investments in technology and replacing e-payment users’ fears on adopting digital channels with confidence in their products and services.

Access Bank Plc is therefore seeking best-in-class ways to safeguard the resources of its customers and sustain their confidence in its operations.

To achieve this, the bank has introduced the *901*911# USSD code, a solution that allows customers act swiftly to prevent fraudulent activities on their accounts.

According to the bank, the service allows customers of all account types to deactivate a USSD profile simply by dialing *901*911# from any phone, inputting the registered phone number for the account to be protected and this automatically locks out fraudsters from the individual’s account.

Besides, over the years, Access Bank has remained committed to educating its customers, informing and protecting them from fraudsters.

“We have created dedicated pages on our official website that constantly update customers on the schemes fraudsters employ to defraud them while bringing to public notice the quickest platforms to access help in the event of any suspected fraud case. In our promise to offer customers more than banking, we have not wavered in our drive to not only deliver speedy services but also security for all, the bank assured.

Besides, Access Bank’s customers can report any suspected fraudulent activity immediately to the bank’s dedicated fraud desk or by calling its helpline.

Group Managing Director/CEO Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe said the lender would continue to reposition its operations and payment platforms to serve more customers in Nigeria and across Africa.

He said the Access Bank Group has over time, delivered growth and created value to its customers. The bank has large customer base in Africa, with a significant share of digitally active clients.

“The bank is becoming an aggregator in Africa by building a global payments gateway, offering holistic trade finance support and offering correspondent banking services.

It is also focusing on key markets to support regional trade by targeting new opportunity markets and positioning as a trade and payments gateway to the world,” he said.

More lending opportunities for SMEs

Access Bank said it is providing more access to credit to SMEs.

In an emailed note to customers, the bank disclosed that it understands challenges SMEs face in accessing finance at a favourable interest rate and repayment period.

The bank is working on the intervention fund support for healthcare sector created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to ameliorate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

It has also partnered with CBN, Lagos State, and other institutions to show commitment to giving SMEs the best advantage to grow.

The bank said that aside its digital lending platform it created for customers’ convenience, it also offers loans at a favourable interest rate, flexible repayment period with no collateral.

“This year, we are committed to providing finance to over 6,000 SMEs in Nigeria worth over N12 billion via the the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) which is an intervention fund from the CBN for creative businesses (Music, Fashion, Information Technology and Film) at five per cent (all interest and fees inclusive) with a repayment period of up to 10 years,” the bank said.

The bank is also working with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund to provide access to discounted financing, capacity building for Women SMEs operating in Lagos State.

The Access Bank W Power Loan is specially designed to provide financial support for female-owned businesses at a discounted rate with a flexible collateral structure while its Instant Business Loans provides finance of up to N5 million for SMEs via the Quickbucks app at a rate of three per cent with no collateral.

Likewise, the Access Bank cashflow loans provides finance for SMEs and new to bank customers via the cashflow portal at a favourable rate with no collateral.

Energising technology with partnership

The African Fintech Foundry (AFF), an initiative of Access Bank, has continued to promote Nigerian startups to attract new investors.

The AFF and Access Bank’s ‘W’ Initiative recently hosted a fireside chat for ‘Women in Tech’ with theme ‘Women in Tech: Driving diversity in the African tech industry’.

Head of the African Fintech Foundry, Daniel Awe, said: “The African Fintech Foundry has always been committed to leading disruptions in the fintech ecosystem by leveraging digital transformations across board. As a result, championing a cause that focuses on inclusion and diversity in the technology industry is, for us, a necessity.

“The current trajectory of the technology industry shows that a non-proactive approach to gender diversity will lead to a reduction in the number of women involved in the tech space 10 years from now. This is why African Fintech Foundry has decided to host ‘Women in Tech’ to encourage more female participation in this sector.’’

The Group Head/Coordinator, “W” Initiative, Access Bank, Ayona Trimnell, added: “Gender diversity and inclusion has improved in many industries but tech is still lagging behind in this regard. Considering the crucial role technological innovation will play in most sectors of the economy, the prolonged underrepresentation of women in tech will present a major challenge to the economy if left unaddressed. Hence, partnering with the African Fintech Foundry to increase the participation of women in the technology industry is timely and we are excited about the prospects this event presents.”

Awe said the AFF runs an Accelerator Programme, which helps young and budding business enterprises form and nurture promising startups.

He listed some companies that have gone through the Accelerator Programme.

“We have Paystack Payment Limited, which is a company of about $200 million. For some reasons, Paystack started with Access Bank before they got to where they are. We have Flutterwave, which is valued at about $300 million,” he said.

He continued: “It is an environment where we pick an idea, where we pick startups and put them in an Accelerator Programme of about 17 weeks, depending on what model they want to run and teach them how to run a successful business.

Oluwaseun Babatunde of Rentgage, one of the companies that made presentations at the event, said the intention of the company was to create a company that will help people in the country and Africa as a continent to be able to afford ideal housing units.

“We are coming with a financial solution. Instead of people finding it hard to get ideal housing units, we will help get affordable housing units where they will pay not annually but at piecemeal and at their convenience with a negligible interest”, Babatunde said.

Love Udoma of Farm Delite, who also made a presentation, said her company, a networking platform for agriculturists, “connects all the players in the agricultural value chain from production to distribution to consumption using technology. So, you can trace what you eat right from the farmer to your table. You can trace the condition it was planted”.

Value addition to customers

Access bank Plc, has successfully commissioned and empowered 74,000 Access Closa agents to provide financial services to customers across Nigeria.

This aligns with its mission to deliver superior value to its customers and provide innovative solutions for the markets and communities it serves.

The bank in a statement stated that these Access Closa Agents are spread across the 774 Local Government Areas in the country, the bank has significantly grown access to finance and banking services to Millions of previously underbanked Nigerians, provided alternate streams of income for MSMEs, promoted financially literacy and also advanced its ambition to bank one in every two Nigerians by 2025.

Senior Banking Advisor, Retail, Access Bank plc, Robert Giles said the bank’s agent network was part of the its promise to ensure easier and safer access to financial services for every Nigerian.

He said: “As a bank driven by innovation, we must deliver better outcomes for customers in terms of speed, security and service to enhance customer experience in all the locations that we operate. With the recent mapping of over 70,000 Access Closa Agents, customers and non-customers of the Bank who are travelling for Business, events or to visit loved ones in any location in Nigeria will continue to enjoy uninterrupted banking services as our Closa agents are available in several rural and semi-urban locations across the country.

“They can also access financial services from a Closa agent near them, by simply searching for “Access Closa Agent” on Google Map instead of walking long distances in search of a branch.” Head, Agency Banking, Access Bank Plc, Tolulope Oyeyipo, said: “The Access Closa agent network is a bespoke channel through which Access Bank expresses her passion and commitment to broadening the opportunities and access to financial services for every Nigerian and African, irrespective of where they might be.”

With over 70,000 agent locations spread across every neighborhood in the country, we are making sure our customers and indeed customers of other banks can enjoy seamless banking services close to where they live and work, in a safe and convenient manner. By offering basic financial services such as cash withdrawal, cash deposit, bill payments and account opening, our continuously growing agent network is increasingly making the need to visit a bank branch unnecessary for everyone. We are committed to being at the forefront of providing digital financial services in Nigeria,” Tolulope concluded.

State of the industry

Cyber-related risks have been a systemic concern for stakeholders since the turn of the century. The deepening integration of digital technologies into almost every facet of people’s lives has transformed the way they communicate, socialise, learn do business and conduct financial transactions.

With over 50 per cent of the world’s population online and about one million joining each day, these risk exposures can only better be imagined.

The CBN data showed that internet/online-banking and automated teller machine/card-related fraud-types reported constituted 92.68 per cent of all the reported cases worth N15 billion yearly.

Other miscellaneous crimes such as fraudulent transfers/withdrawals, cash suppression, unauthorised credits, fraudulent conversion of cheques, diversion of customer deposits, diversion of bank charges, presentation of forged or stolen-cheques, among others, also made the list of malpractices.

Despite these challenges, the CBN said it was committed to strengthening its regulatory and supervisory framework to boost the resilience of the financial system against cybercrime.

The apex bank issued a Risk-Based Cyber Security Framework for deposit money banks and payment service providers, which among others, prescribes yearly cyber resilience self-assessments for proactive identification and remediation of weaknesses and mandatory incident reporting to normalise sharing of best practices across the industry.