The organisers of the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance Security Summit 2025 have said that financial institutions in Africa have become prime targets of rising cybercrime on the continent.
This was disclosed in a statement on Monday in the lead-up to the annual summit in South Africa in May.
Cybersecurity remains a top concern for financial institutions in Africa. In 2024, the Bank of Uganda fell victim to an offshore hacking group known as Waste, resulting in the theft of approximately $16.8m. Additionally, ZB Financial Holdings in Zimbabwe experienced a ransomware attack in July 2024, leading to significant data leaks affecting customers and operational information. More recently, in South Africa, Standard Bank confirmed that it experienced a data breach that involved limited personal and financial information. These incidents underscore the urgent need for robust cybersecurity strategies within the BFSI sector.
Closer to home, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System in its Recent Fraud Trends said that about N52.26bn was lost by the financial industry to fraud in 2024, which is 195 per cent higher than N17.70bn in the previous year.
The report said, “Total attempted and actual loss between 2023 and 2024 increased by 338 per cent and 195 per cent, respectively. This significant increase is attributed to fraud incidents at some institutions, stemming from system vulnerabilities. When compared to the previous quarter, fraud activity increased in 2024, with attempted amounts and actual losses rising significantly in Q2 and Q3, before declining in Q4.”
The attempted fraud amount stood at N86.36bn, 338 per cent higher than in 2023.
Commenting on the summit, the Chief Executive Officer of IT News Africa, Abe Wakama, said, “Cybercrime is evolving at an alarming rate, and financial institutions in Africa are prime targets. The BFSI Security Summit will provide a crucial platform for industry leaders to collaborate, share insights, and implement strategies to safeguard their organisations.”
The BFSI Security Summit 2025 will bring together leading cybersecurity experts, IT decision-makers, and industry pioneers to tackle the growing cyber risks facing Africa’s banking, financial services, and insurance sectors.
Key topics on the agenda include ransomware and data breaches to strengthen cybersecurity resilience in banking and insurance. Securing emerging tech by mitigating risks in AI, blockchain, and cloud adoption. Data privacy and compliance involving the navigation of Africa’s evolving regulatory landscape and incident response in BFSI, which focuses on the best practices in breach management and risk mitigation.
