Nigerian commercial banks and deposit money banks filed 38,715 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in 2025.
According to the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report, reporting entities across Nigeria submitted a combined 42,082 STRs during the year, meaning banks accounted for approximately 92% of all suspicious transaction reports received by the intelligence agency.
The concentration reflects the central position banks continue to occupy in Nigeria’s formal financial system despite rapid growth in fintechs, payment platforms, digital assets and other alternative financial channels.
Under Nigeria’s anti-money laundering framework, reporting entities are required to submit an STR when they determine that a transaction or activity is suspicious or potentially connected to money laundering, terrorist financing or another illegal activity.
The filing of an STR does not establish that the customer involved committed a crime. Instead, the reports provide the NFIU with information that can be analysed alongside other financial and intelligence data before potentially being passed to competent authorities for further investigation.
Beyond banks, Other Financial Institutions submitted 2,185 STRs, while Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions filed 1,029.
Capital market and insurance companies accounted for another 104, while Virtual Asset Service Providers filed 49 STRs.
Banks also dominated Currency Transaction Reports, submitting more than 37.21 million of the 41.72 million CTRs received by the NFIU during the year.
The NFIU said financial crime risks are becoming increasingly interconnected as criminals combine conventional bank accounts with fintech platforms, digital assets, proxy accounts and cross-border transactions to conceal the origin and movement of funds.
The agency identified fraud, tax offences, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing among the major underlying offences driving illicit financial flows in Nigeria.