FirstBank of Nigeria Limited is spending more than N6 billion annually on cybersecurity as the lender expands its digital banking operations and confronts increasingly sophisticated threats targeting financial institutions and their customers.
The bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Alebiosu, disclosed the investment in Abuja during the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
According to Alebiosu, FirstBank maintains continuous surveillance of its technology infrastructure and deals with millions of attempted cyber threats every month.
The bank has also established a central command facility through which threats across its operations can be identified and addressed with cybersecurity spending expected to rise as the business expands.
The investment reflects the growing importance of digital security to Nigerian banks as customers increasingly move transactions away from traditional branches to mobile applications, internet banking, USSD and other electronic payment channels.
For FirstBank, the scale of that transition is substantial.
The bank’s digital customer base exceeded 25 million in 2024, while it processed 963 million interbank transactions during the year, representing approximately 9 percent of transactions on the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System platform and 21 percent of those processed by Nigerian commercial banks.
FirstMobile and FirstOnline alone processed more than 730 million transactions valued at N67 trillion in 2024.
Transaction volume across the two platforms increased 12 percent from the previous year, while the value of transactions jumped 60 percent.
The expansion means more customer activity is taking place electronically, increasing both the importance of digital infrastructure and the potential consequences of a successful security breach.
Digital Banking Raises Security Stakes
Nigeria’s transition toward electronic payments has fundamentally changed the security requirements of commercial banks.
Financial institutions previously concentrated heavily on protecting branches, vaults and physical cash. Today, a growing share of banking activity takes place through interconnected technology platforms operating continuously.
That shift has expanded the points through which criminals can attempt to access financial institutions and their customers.
Banks must now defend mobile applications, internet banking platforms, payment infrastructure, customer credentials, internal networks and connections with external technology providers.
FirstBank has previously disclosed that more than 90 percent of its customer transactions are conducted through digital channels, illustrating how important technology has become to its operations.
The lender also operates a 24-hour security operations structure and uses threat intelligence and other security systems to identify potential attacks.
AI Creates New Opportunities and Risks
Artificial intelligence is adding another dimension to the challenge.
Alebiosu said AI could significantly improve banking efficiency, particularly by accelerating data processing and allowing financial institutions to complete tasks that previously required substantially more time.
However, the same technology can also increase the capabilities available to criminals.
Banks therefore face the challenge of adopting AI to improve operations while simultaneously strengthening controls against attackers using similar technology.
The issue has become increasingly important to Nigerian regulators.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has warned banks, fintech companies and other financial institutions that cybersecurity can no longer be treated solely as an internal technology problem.
Growing connections between banks, payment companies, cloud providers, fintechs and other technology vendors mean disruption at one institution can potentially spread through the wider financial system.
The CBN has consequently urged financial institutions to strengthen governance around technology, third-party providers and critical data.
FirstBank’s Digital Exposure Continues to Grow
FirstBank’s cybersecurity spending is occurring alongside continued expansion of its digital footprint.
Its USSD banking platform had 16.2 million users in 2024 and processed an average transaction value of about N490 billion monthly, up from approximately N450 billion in the previous year.
The channel also supported more than 150,000 new account openings and approximately 5.6 million consumer loans valued at N100 billion during the year.
Meanwhile, the bank disbursed more than N280 billion through digital channels across 7.4 million loan transactions.
The figures demonstrate why cybersecurity has become a major operating expense rather than an optional technology investment.
As transaction volumes increase, banks have more infrastructure, customer information and payment activity requiring protection.
Any prolonged disruption can affect not only customers but merchants, businesses and other financial institutions connected to the same payment ecosystem.
Cybersecurity Spending Set to Increase
FirstBank expects its security investment to grow alongside the expansion of its operations.
The bank already maintains information-security controls covering access management, threat detection, business continuity, data protection and incident response.
It also operates under information-security standards including ISO 27001 and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
However, increasing expenditure does not eliminate cyber risk.
Attack methods continue to evolve, while customers themselves remain frequent targets of phishing, social engineering, credential theft and other forms of financial fraud.
This requires banks to combine investment in infrastructure with customer education, employee training and stronger controls around third-party technology providers.
For Nigeria’s banking industry, the financial commitment required to achieve that protection is likely to increase as digital payments expand further.
FirstBank’s annual cybersecurity expenditure of more than N6 billion provides an indication of the resources large Nigerian financial institutions are increasingly committing to protect digital operations.
With hundreds of millions of transactions moving through electronic platforms and artificial intelligence expanding the capabilities available to both banks and criminals, cybersecurity is becoming a core component of the cost of running a large-scale banking franchise in Nigeria.