By The Metro 
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to elevate terrorism financing supervision to a current priority should be read by financial institutions as a warning on existing controls, not as the start of an entirely new regulatory regime, RegTech founder Kanayo Kemuwa has said.
In a statement issued on 8 September 2026, the CBN said terrorism financing supervision now covers risk management, transaction monitoring, targeted financial sanctions and suspicious transaction reporting. The Bank said it would continue a risk-based approach, including on-site and off-site engagement, in line with existing legal and regulatory obligations.
Kemuwa, who works at the intersection of compliance, technology infrastructure and digital banking systems, said institutions should expect closer examination of how those obligations operate in practice.
“The message is not necessarily about introducing an entirely new regulatory framework. It is about placing greater supervisory attention on obligations that already exist.”
He argued that any examination would start at onboarding. Incomplete, inaccurate or poorly structured customer data weakens every control that follows: risk scoring, screening, transaction monitoring and reporting. Institutions, he said, must therefore review customer due diligence, beneficial ownership information, source of funds and wealth where applicable, customer risk classification, and the quality of data they capture and keep.
Screening, he added, cannot remain a one-time onboarding exercise. Customers, beneficial owners and relevant counterparties require ongoing checks against sanctions and other risk indicators, with a clear process for reviewing and resolving potential matches. Transaction monitoring must also be timely enough to identify unusual behaviour, changes in activity, high-risk transactions, unusual counterparties and potentially connected transactions, rather than relying mainly on after-the-fact reviews.
Reporting and evidence sit at the centre of the test. Alerts must be investigated, escalated and reported where required, with an audit trail showing how decisions were reached, who reviewed them and what action followed.
“This is where RegTech needs to move from being viewed as a technology investment to being recognised as part of the compliance infrastructure.”
A properly integrated RegTech environment, Kemuwa said, should support the institution from onboarding through monitoring, screening, investigation and reporting. It should help validate customer data, automate appropriate screening, assess risk continuously, monitor transactions, manage alerts, support investigations and keep a reliable audit trail. The aim is not to replace compliance professionals, but to give them the data, intelligence and operational visibility to decide better and respond faster.
He also tied the CBN signal to expansion beyond Nigeria. Different jurisdictions bring different sanctions regimes, reporting obligations, identification requirements and supervisory standards. A fragmented, manual compliance environment is difficult to scale. Structured data, consistent controls, automated monitoring and demonstrable evidence give institutions a stronger base for entering new markets.
“If the regulator examined our framework tomorrow, would we be able to demonstrate that our controls exist, or that they actually work?”
The institutions that will remain resilient, he said, are those that know their customers, understand their counterparties, capture accurate data, monitor activity effectively, report appropriately and keep evidence of their decisions.
“Technology-enabled compliance is no longer optional infrastructure for a modern financial institution. It is becoming an essential part of staying compliant, audit-ready and ready for international growth.”