By Felix Olukayode
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called for “automating accountability” in the financial services sector, urging institutions to harness artificial intelligence without surrendering human oversight. Represented by Yusuf, the apex bank said responsible automation would strengthen trust, resilience, and efficiency across the sector while ensuring consumers remain protected as technology increasingly shapes financial decisions.
The Director, Payments System Supervision at the CBN and Chairperson of the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum, NeFF, Dr Rakiya Yusuf, stated this at the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, in Abuja.
Automation in financial services must not eliminate human responsibility for critical decisions, especially those affecting customers and the stability of the financial system, Yusuf warned. She advocated an approach she described as “automating accountability,” where artificial intelligence (AI) improves efficiency while human oversight remains firmly in place.
The CBN director pointed out that as AI assumes increasingly sophisticated tasks across the financial sector, institutions must ensure that humans retain responsibility for decisions and outcomes. Such oversight, she noted, would help build greater trust and prevent automated systems from making consequential decisions without adequate scrutiny.
She also urged banks and other financial institutions to strengthen data governance and embrace digital sovereignty by knowing where critical data are stored, who can access them, what intelligence can be extracted, and how the information influences decisions.
According to her, keeping critical data or essential technological capabilities beyond an institution’s effective control could create additional vulnerabilities for the financial system. Stronger governance, she argued, would therefore improve resilience while helping institutions manage emerging technological and cyber risks.
Yusuf stressed that protecting Nigeria’s financial system requires collective responsibility among regulators, banks, fintechs, payment service providers and technology companies. The goal, she said, should be a resilient financial ecosystem capable of absorbing shocks, containing cyber incidents and recovering quickly without the failure of one institution destabilising the wider system.