By Jennete Ugo Anya
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has urged banks to strengthen risk management, corporate governance and operational capacity as technological disruption, cyber threats and global instability create new vulnerabilities across the financial system.
Managing Director of the NDIC, Mr. Thompson Sunday, gave the warning in a goodwill message at recent the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Abuja.
Mr. Sunday said the financial services industry was undergoing rapid structural change, driven by technological advancement, cybersecurity threats, climate-related risks, geopolitical tensions and changing customer expectations.
He said these developments required banks to rethink conventional approaches to resilience and build institutions capable not only of absorbing shocks but also of identifying and adapting to risks before they become crises.
According to him, financial resilience goes beyond an institution’s ability to survive an economic or operational shock. It also depends on its capacity to preserve institutional strength and maintain public confidence during periods of uncertainty.
Mr. Sunday identified sound risk management, effective corporate governance, operational preparedness and institutional adaptability as essential pillars of a stable banking system.
Technology, he noted, had expanded financial inclusion and improved access to financial services, but it had also created new points of vulnerability.
Cyberattacks, data protection failures, fraud and technology-related operational disruptions can spread quickly across an increasingly interconnected financial system. This makes resilience a shared responsibility for banks, regulators and other participants in the financial ecosystem.
Mr. Sunday therefore called for stronger collaboration among banks, regulators, fintech companies, payment service providers, professional bodies and other stakeholders to improve the sector’s capacity to anticipate and respond to emerging threats.
He also urged banks to direct more financing towards productive sectors, particularly agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure and entrepreneurship, arguing that financial-sector resilience must ultimately support sustainable economic growth.
For the NDIC chief, the priority should increasingly be anticipation rather than reaction.
Banks, he said, must invest continuously in their people, technology, governance structures and institutional capabilities if they are to remain resilient in an environment where risks are becoming more complex and interconnected.
The warning came against the backdrop of a global economy that CIBN President and Chairman of Council, Mr. Dele Alabi, described as increasingly defined by disruption.
Mr. Alabi identified geopolitical tensions, rising energy costs and rapid technological change as major pressures confronting governments and financial institutions.
He said the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine continued to affect global energy, food, shipping and financial markets, creating transmission channels through which external shocks reach domestic economies.
Artificial intelligence and fintech were also transforming productivity, payments, credit delivery and customer experience, Mr. Alabi said. At the same time, they were raising new concerns around cybersecurity, data governance, employment and systemic stability.
Nigeria remains particularly exposed to these external pressures because of its dependence on international commodity and capital markets.
Mr. Alabi said fluctuations in crude oil and gas prices, higher fuel and fertiliser costs, rising freight charges, exchange-rate pressures and changes in capital flows continued to influence domestic economic conditions.
He noted that Nigeria’s response had included greater coordination of fiscal, monetary and energy policies, as well as efforts to increase domestic production, strengthen food supply and expand social protection.
Some of the policies introduced over the past two years, he said, were beginning to produce positive results.
Alabi cited the recapitalisation of the banking sector as one such development, noting that 33 banks had met the revised minimum capital requirements after raising N4.65 trillion in new capital.
He also pointed to Nigeria’s 4.43 percent year-on-year GDP growth in the second quarter of 2026 and Moody’s decision to revise the country’s outlook from stable to positive as indicators of improving macroeconomic conditions.
But Alabi cautioned against treating these developments as an endpoint. The stronger capital position of banks and improving macroeconomic indicators, he argued, will only matter fully if they translate into tangible improvements in the lives of households and businesses.
The real test of economic reforms, he said, would be whether they produce lower living costs, more jobs, higher incomes, affordable credit, reliable public services and reduced poverty.
That distinction places financial-sector resilience within a broader economic question. A banking system can be better capitalised and more technologically advanced, yet still fall short of its developmental role if credit remains inaccessible to productive businesses or if households do not experience improvements in their economic wellbeing.
