Nigeria is tightening the screws on digital fraud, and this time, banks can check your SIM history before your transaction goes through.
On April 20, 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Communications Commission signed a new agreement to share telecom data through a platform called the Telecom Identity Risk Management System (TIRMS), giving financial institutions real-time insight into whether a phone number has been swapped, recycled, flagged, or reassigned.For everyday users, this will mostly happen in the background.
But it changes a lot. Banks and fintechs will now be able to see if a number linked to a transaction has recently changed hands or shows signs of suspicious activity, the kind of checks that could stop fraud before money leaves an account.
The deal also covers more routine issues, like resolving complaints around failed airtime or data purchases that often fall between banks and telcos.The urgency is clear when you look at the numbers.
Nigeria has lost an estimated ₦320 billion to financial fraud in just over two years, much of it tied to digital transactions. SIM swap fraud alone has been a major loophole, with criminals exploiting recycled numbers and one-time passwords to drain accounts. TIRMS is designed to close that gap by making SIM history visible at the point of transaction.
This kind of cooperation didn’t always come easy. Both regulators have spent years at odds, most notably over USSD debt disputes between banks and telecom operators. That standoff dragged on for years before it was finally resolved, setting the stage for the kind of collaboration now driving this new system.What’s more, this is part of a bigger push to secure Nigeria’s fast-growing digital finance ecosystem.
Alongside TIRMS, the CBN is rolling out measures like device binding and stricter controls around identity changes. Put together, it’s a move toward a more tightly verified system, one where fraud becomes harder to pull off, even as digital payments keep expanding.
TNAM
Edited By Egwu Patience Nnennaya
