By Opeyemi Adelakun
Nigeria’s financial intelligence system recorded a sharp shift in reporting patterns in 2025, with Suspicious Transaction Reports falling by almost half even as Currency Transaction Reports rose by more than 60 per cent, according to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit’s 2025 Annual Report.
The NFIU said banks, fintech operators and other reporting entities submitted 42,082 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) during the year, compared with 82,143 recorded in 2024.
At the same time, Currency Transaction Reports increased from 25.82 million in 2024 to 41.72 million in 2025, while disclosures involving Politically Exposed Persons rose from 21.47 million to 28.13 million.
The figures point to a significant change in the volume and nature of financial reporting as regulators intensified compliance monitoring across the banking, fintech, capital market, insurance and virtual asset sectors.
The NFIU stated in its annual report, “During the review period, the NFIU received a total of 41,716,214 CTRs, 42,082 STRs, and 10,513 SARs.”
The agency receives threshold-based transaction disclosures, suspicious transaction and activity reports, as well as regulatory submissions relating to anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and counter-proliferation financing.
Deposit Money Banks remained by far the biggest source of suspicious transaction reports, submitting 38,715 STRs, representing about 92 per cent of the total received from reporting entities.
Other Financial Institutions accounted for 2,185 STRs, while Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions submitted 1,029. Capital market operators and insurance companies filed 104, while Virtual Asset Service Providers, including cryptocurrency-related businesses, submitted 49 reports.
Banks also dominated Suspicious Activity Reports, accounting for 8,313 of the 10,513 SARs received by the NFIU.
Other Financial Institutions submitted 1,816 SARs, capital market and insurance firms filed 295, while VASPs accounted for 89. The DNFBP sector recorded no SAR during the period.
Banks Drive Transaction Reporting Surge
The increase in Currency Transaction Reports was driven largely by Deposit Money Banks, which submitted 37.21 million of the 41.72 million reports received by the NFIU.
Other Financial Institutions accounted for 4.21 million, while capital market and insurance companies submitted 289,296. VASPs accounted for 313 reports.
The NFIU said the reporting obligations are backed by the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act.
Under Section 11 of the law, financial institutions are required to report transactions above N5m for individuals and N10m for legal persons within seven days.
The agency also noted that Section 3(1) requires financial institutions to report incoming and outgoing transfers above $10,000 within 24 hours.
Quarterly figures showed that suspicious transaction reporting by banks increased gradually throughout 2025, from 9,134 reports in the first quarter to 9,658 in the second, 9,891 in the third and 10,032 in the fourth quarter.
Currency Transaction Reports from banks followed an even stronger upward trajectory, rising from 7.04 million in the first quarter to 8.20 million in the second, 10.89 million in the third and 11.09 million in the fourth quarter.
Fintech And Crypto Reporting Expand
The report also showed that virtual asset businesses gradually became more active within Nigeria’s financial intelligence reporting framework.
No STRs were recorded from Virtual Asset Service Providers during the first half of 2025. However, the sector filed 17 reports in the third quarter and 32 in the fourth quarter.
VASPs also filed 28 Suspicious Activity Reports in the first quarter, 12 in the second, 24 in the third and 25 in the fourth.
Their Currency Transaction Reports similarly emerged during the second half of the year, with 103 filings in the third quarter and 210 in the fourth.
The development comes as regulators increasingly focus on digital financial services and the risks associated with rapidly evolving payment systems, cryptocurrency transactions and other technology-driven financial activities.
PEP Disclosures Hit 28.1m
The NFIU also received 28,133,909 Politically Exposed Persons reports during the year.
Deposit Money Banks accounted for the overwhelming majority of the disclosures, recording 7.26 million in the first quarter, 5.66 million in the second, 6.24 million in the third and 8.23 million in the fourth.
Other Financial Institutions recorded a particularly sharp increase, rising from just 12 reports in the first quarter to 617,286 in the fourth quarter.
Capital market and insurance institutions submitted 28,561 PEP reports, while VASPs recorded none.
The substantial increase in PEP reporting reflects the growing emphasis on enhanced scrutiny of individuals considered to have prominent public functions and the financial transactions associated with them.
Suspicious Reports Decline Despite Broader Monitoring
The most notable feature of the NFIU figures is the contrast between suspicious reports and broader transaction disclosures.
STRs declined by 40,061, from 82,143 in 2024 to 42,082 in 2025, representing a 48.8 per cent drop.
Suspicious Activity Reports also fell by 12,851, from 23,364 to 10,513, a decline of about 55 per cent.
By contrast, Currency Transaction Reports increased by 15.90 million, representing a 61.6 per cent year-on-year rise.
PEP reports also climbed by 6.67 million, or 31.1 per cent.
The divergence suggests that the financial system recorded significantly more threshold-based and compliance-related disclosures during the year, even though the number of transactions formally classified and reported as suspicious dropped considerably.
The figures, however, do not by themselves establish whether financial crime declined. Rather, they reflect the volume of reports submitted to the NFIU and changes in reporting patterns among regulated entities.
NFIU Steps Up Compliance Checks
The agency also increased its supervisory activities during the year.
Its Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions Division conducted joint on-site examinations of 29 reporting entities operating in the real estate, casino, precious metals and stones and consultancy sectors within the Federal Capital Territory.
According to the report, the exercise resulted in “20 new registrations on the RapidAML portal and subscriptions to NIGSAC” as well as the filing of 1,029 Suspicious Transaction Reports.
The compliance drive cuts across sectors beyond traditional banking, reflecting the NFIU’s broader effort to strengthen financial intelligence gathering and ensure that businesses subject to reporting obligations comply with the law.
The development also follows efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria to modernise anti-money laundering controls across the financial sector.
In a May 20, 2025 circular, the CBN proposed standards aimed at strengthening AML systems in response to the increasing digitalisation and sophistication of financial transactions.
The proposed framework requires regulated institutions to deploy intelligent AML systems capable of real-time transaction monitoring and anomaly detection.
The systems are expected to use artificial intelligence and machine learning for behavioural pattern recognition, risk scoring and adaptive identification of potentially suspicious activities, including large cash deposits, cross-border transactions and cryptocurrency dealings.
The proposed standards also require AML platforms to integrate with core banking systems, customer onboarding platforms and transaction processing systems.
Automated reporting to the NFIU is another key requirement, with systems expected to generate Suspicious Transaction Reports, Currency Transaction Reports and Foreign Currency Transaction Reports where applicable.
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