The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emwfiele has stated that global cybercrime losses will be about $2 trillion dollars before the end of 2019. This is even as he urged auditors to discover new ideas, for adequate and effective internal controls.
Emefiele who stated this while speaking at the Quarterly Meeting of the Chief Audit Executives of Banks, themed: “Changing Business Environment: The Role of Internal Auditors” in Lagos, said: “Losses due to cybercrimes across all sectors have been estimated globally to hover between $400 to 550 billion in 2015. “The figure could rise to $2 trillion dollars by the end of 2019. This amount is more than the annual GDP of most individual nations, including Nigeria. “Here at home, we are not spared of losses due to cybercrimes and the global trend ought to alert us to the gravity of this problem.”
He also said that the financial system is more vulnerable as more bank staff and outsiders connive to perpetrate financial crimes. He added: “Fortunately, most of the times, they fail. But, their occasional successes can have very serious consequences on individual organizations or the entire system. “That is why we need a framework for robust collaboration to protect individual entities and the industry as a whole. That is one of the reasons that I welcome this meeting and fully endorse your theme for the event.”
Emiefele who was represented by his Special Adviser on Financial Markets, Mr. Emmanuel Ukeje noted that, CBN has been leading on efforts at the Nigeria electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF). There, cross-fertilization of ideas on incidents has helped the industry to better respond to contemporary e-fraud attacks, through issuance of guidelines, circulars and directives. “While it is always important to share information horizontally, an effective awareness campaign integrates information vertically. Auditors must therefore be researching for new ideas, for better ways of ensuring the adequacy and effectiveness of internal controls in our various organizations. Above all, you must share these ideas and your experiences,” he said.