Access Bank Plc has moved to freeze accounts across 71 financial institutions after an alleged cyberattack on its internet banking platform triggered unauthorised transfers totalling N1.34 billion from the accounts of four customers.
The bank, which disclosed the suspected fraud in an ex parte application before the Federal High Court in Lagos, said its internal investigation revealed that N1,340,425,393 was moved without authorisation through its Access SME App and subsequently dispersed into several beneficiary accounts.
Court documents showed that the affected customers were MIB TXN Bullion, Aba Branch; AIICO General Insurance Company Limited; Apogee Engineering Limited; and SIMS Nigeria Limited.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the application, the alleged unauthorised transfers comprised N590,975,889 from MIB TXN Bullion; N420,449,504 from AIICO General Insurance Company Limited; N136 million from Apogee Engineering Limited; and N193 million from SIMS Nigeria Limited.
The four transactions amounted to N1,340,425,393.
Access Bank told the court that it discovered the suspected fraud upon resumption on August 12, 2026, following what it described as an incident perpetrated through one of its internet banking applications.
Alarmed by the movement of the funds, the bank approached the Federal High Court through an ex parte motion marked FHC/LAG/MISC/1168/2026, naming 71 banks and financial institutions through which the disputed funds were allegedly routed.
The bank sought, among other reliefs, an order compelling the affected institutions to maintain a Post-No-Debit (PND) restriction on accounts that received the allegedly unauthorised funds, to the extent of the amounts received.
It also asked the court to direct the respondents to disclose how much of the money remained in the beneficiary accounts and to watchlist Bank Verification Numbers linked to the accounts pending recovery of the funds.
In addition, Access Bank sought an order for the immediate reversal of salvaged funds into an account domiciled with the bank.
The bank argued that urgent judicial intervention was necessary to prevent the money from being further transferred, withdrawn or otherwise dissipated before it could be recovered.
Its affidavit stated that an internal investigation had traced the funds to several accounts and identified the BVNs of beneficiaries as well as other accounts linked to them.
Access Bank said it immediately contacted the affected financial institutions after discovering the suspected fraud, asking them to preserve whatever funds remained and provide information to assist its investigation.
According to the bank, the institutions had already placed PND restrictions on some of the accounts but required a court order to sustain the restrictions.
“There is an urgent need for the order of this court to preserve the res and every other account in receipt of the funds to avoid further dissipation of the funds,” the bank stated in its application.
The affidavit was deposed to by Sodiq Jimoh, a litigation clerk with Country Hill Attorneys & Solicitors, counsel to Access Bank.
The bank further argued that failure to grant the orders urgently could expose it to substantial financial loss, adding that tackling cybercrime was necessary to protect wider economic and national interests.
It undertook to pay damages should the court subsequently determine that the orders ought not to have been granted.
After hearing submissions from Access Bank’s counsel, Ifeoma E. Enyinnaya, Justice Akintayo Aluko held that there was a need to preserve the disputed funds from further dissipation.
The judge consequently granted the bank’s first three reliefs, including orders relating to the PND restrictions, disclosure of funds in the affected accounts and watchlisting of relevant BVNs.
The court, however, declined the bank’s request for an immediate reversal of the recovered funds, holding that such an order would effectively amount to granting a final relief at the ex parte stage.
“The essence of the application is to preserve the funds from further dissipation. The court has a duty to preserve the ‘res’,” Justice Aluko held.
He ruled that while the first three reliefs were grantable, the request for immediate reversal of the funds could not be granted at that stage because it was “more like a final order.”
The matter was adjourned until August 31, 2026, for further proceedings.
Justice Aluko also directed Access Bank’s counsel to file an undertaking as to damages in the event that it is subsequently established that the interim orders ought not to have been made.
The alleged cyber incident represents another test of the safeguards surrounding Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital banking ecosystem, as financial institutions increasingly confront sophisticated attempts to exploit electronic payment and internet banking channels.