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Africa’s banking sector has rapidly digitized—mobile-first banking, cross-border payments, cloud integrations—but with this growth comes elevated cyber risk. Security threats like ransomware, social engineering, and weaknesses in third-party vendor systems are increasingly hitting financial institutions across the continent.
Angela Ukpabi, a risk and compliance expert with experience in banking, fintech, and cybersecurity, calls for a shift. She argues that instead of running after every regulation or checklist, African banks need a unified, risk-driven compliance framework—one that prioritizes defending against real threats rather than merely meeting bureaucratic requirements.
Why Africa’s Cyber Risk Profile Is Unique
Ukpabi explains that many banks scaled new services like APIs, mobile banking, and cloud solutions fast—often before security came with them. Infrastructure is inconsistent, vendor integrations are picked up quickly without always being secured, and connectivity issues add another layer of risk. Meanwhile, regulations vary wildly between regions, and compliance teams often find themselves juggling overlapping rules instead of focusing on core risks. And there’s also a big talent gap: one person may be responsible for monitoring, incident response, vendor risks, /and/ security tooling—leading to fatigue and oversight.
What a Unified, Risk-Driven Framework Looks Like
According to Ukpabi, an effective model would include:
- A single risk taxonomy and control catalog used across all departments (tech, operations, compliance, etc.), mapping international standards (e.g. ISO 27001, PCI DSS) and local laws into one coherent set of controls.
- Clear direction from boards on risk tolerance, plus metrics like mean time to detect/respond, patch cycle compliance, vendor exposure, and data loss indicators.
- Breaking down silos so that compliance isn’t just about documentation but performance. Teams should run red-team tests, simulate incidents, monitor vendor systems, and prioritize controls with real risk.
What Needs to Happen Now
Stakeholders across the ecosystem must step up: banks need board-level buy-in; regulators should harmonize core cyber rules; vendors must adhere to standardized security requirements; and training institutions must build pipelines of skilled analysts, auditors, and cyber defenders.
Bottom Line
Static audits and tick-box compliance won’t cut it. For Africa’s banking sector to truly protect itself in this digital age, compliance must evolve into a unified, risk-driven discipline. When that happens, it’s not just about avoiding fines—it’s about preserving trust, safeguarding assets, and enabling digital finance with confidence.
