The Financial Institutions Training Centre, in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, has announced the commencement of the 2025 edition of the ‘ThinkNnovation Cybersecurity Conference’, which aims to tackle sophisticated fraud schemes in the financial services sector and strengthen cyber defence in the Nigerian financial industries.

In a statement made available to the media, FITC stated that the theme for this year’s event, titled “Securing Tomorrow: Cyber Resilience, Intelligent Defence and the Architecture of Trust in a Borderless World’ commences on Wednesday at the Four Points by Sheraton, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Speaking ahead of the Wednesday event, Dr Chizor Malize, MD/CEO of FITC, said, “Cybercrime has become one of the most urgent threats facing Africa’s digital economy. From sophisticated fraud schemes in the financial services sector to cross-border ransomware attacks on governments and businesses, the cost of cyber insecurity is mounting at an alarming pace.”

Malize noted that the African digital economy is experiencing a massive expansion in mobile payments, blockchain adoption, digital lending, and cross-border e-commerce are reshaping the financial and commercial landscape.

She expressed that the rapid expansion has come with staggering risks, citing the African Union’s Cybersecurity Outlook 2024, cybercrime costs the continent an estimated $4 billion annually, with Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa accounting for more than half of the losses.

She explained that criminals are shifting from high-volume attacks to precision-targeted strikes that exploit systemic vulnerabilities. In Nigeria alone, industry reports reveal multi-billion-naira losses linked to phishing, insider collusion, ransomware, and large-scale fraud schemes that directly undermine trust in financial services.

“As Africa moves boldly into the digital age, its economic future depends on one word — trust,” adding that.

“ThinkNnovation 2025 is not just another conference; it is a platform for urgent dialogue and concrete action. We must design cyber resilience into every layer of our systems — payments, identity, regulation, and infrastructure — if Africa is to secure its digital tomorrow.”

The ThinkNnovation Cybersecurity Conference 2025 is designed as a response platform, bringing together regulators, CIOs, CISOs, CROs, bank executives, fintech founders, policymakers, and international experts to confront the continent’s most pressing cybersecurity challenges.

FITC emphasised that the conference highlights the necessity of collaboration to develop systemic cyber resilience, especially since the African financial ecosystem, encompassing banks, fintechs, regulators, and governments, has grown increasingly interconnected.