The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has highlighted three pillars that will see to the next phase of growth for Nigeria’s banking sector.
The three pillars, according to him, include Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a catalyst, regtech and dynamic compliance and cyber resilience and digital sovereignty.
The NITDA DG, who spoke during a panel session titled “The Efficiency Frontier – AI, RegTech and Cyber Resilience” at the Future of Banking Nigeria Summit organised by CNBC Africa in Lagos, noted that the future of banking will be driven less by capital accumulation and more by the ability of financial institutions to build digital trust through artificial intelligence (AI), regulatory technology (RegTech) and cyber resilience.
As digital channels become the primary interaction point between banks and consumers, public confidence hinges on uninterrupted service and robust security. To address this, Inuwa highlighted three critical areas of focus, beginning with Artificial Intelligence as a strategic catalyst. Rather than just a buzzword, AI is a tool to revolutionize operations by boosting productivity, strengthening decision-making frameworks, and driving revenue growth. Furthermore, it delivers the highly personalized financial services that modern, digitally connected customers expect, while powering advanced credit assessment tools to accurately evaluate SME business performance and reduce lending risks.
The second area of focus centers on RegTech and dynamic compliance. Traditional regulation struggles to keep pace with rapid technological evolution, making the adoption of RegTech crucial to simplifying complex compliance processes and lowering operational costs. This technology also improves transparency, strengthens corporate governance, and shifts regulation from a rigid barrier to an agile framework where regulators and innovators co-create safeguards without stifling growth.
Finally, cyber resilience and digital sovereignty form the third pillar of focus. With the rise of fintech eliminating the need for physical branch visits, securing the digital perimeter has become paramount. NITDA is actively addressing this by developing the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which provides a framework to deploy responsible AI across critical sectors in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria. Additionally, the agency is creating National Standards for Sovereign Cloud Infrastructure alongside data classification frameworks to protect sensitive national and financial data, ultimately ensuring Nigeria’s digital sovereignty.
“Today’s question is no longer whether we can raise capital, but whether we can protect, preserve and grow that capital in the digital era. Trust has become the foundation of modern banking, and that trust must be built on resilient digital infrastructure and effective regulation,” he said.
Inuwa observed that digital channels have become the primary point of interaction between banks and customers, making technology resilience, cybersecurity and uninterrupted service delivery essential to maintaining public confidence in the financial system.
He described artificial intelligence as a strategic tool capable of transforming banking operations by improving productivity, strengthening decision-making, boosting revenue and delivering personalised financial services that reflect the expectations of digitally connected customers.