CBN moves to mitigate risk in USSD transactions

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled to members of the public an exposure draft on the regulatory framework for banking platform, it is aimed as part of efforts to mitigate risk by bank customers that carry out transactions through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).

The apex bank stated this in the draft framework that was posted on its website Thursday. It pointed out that the implementation of the system in Nigeria has created multiple USSD channels to customers, thereby increasing their exposure to risk, without common standard for all.

The proposed framework, according to the CBN, therefore seeks to establish rules and risk mitigation considerations when implementing USSD for financial services offering in Nigeria. It noted that USSD based financial transactions require end-to-end encryption to protect the integrity of the financial information. The mobile phone has become a verifiable tool for enhancing financial inclusion with the advent of mobile payments, m-commerce, m-banking and other implementation financial transactions based on mobile money.

Photo Caption: CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele