The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), has announced the ThinkNnovation Cybersecurity Conference 2025, aimed at addressing sophisticated fraud schemes and cyber threats targeting Africa’s financial services sector.

In a statement, FITC revealed that the conference, themed “Securing Tomorrow: Cyber Resilience, Intelligent Defense and the Architecture of Trust in a Borderless World”, will hold on October 22, 2025, at the Four Points by Sheraton, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FITC, Dr. Chizor Malize, said cybercrime has become one of the most urgent threats facing Africa’s digital economy.

“From sophisticated fraud schemes in the financial services sector to cross-border ransomware attacks on governments and businesses, the cost of cyber insecurity is mounting at an alarming pace,” she said.

Malize noted that FITC, as Africa’s foremost knowledge and innovation-led institution, is partnering with NIBSS to host the 2025 edition of the flagship event to strengthen collective cyber resilience across the continent.

She highlighted that Africa’s digital economy is expanding rapidly through mobile payments, blockchain adoption, digital lending, and cross-border e-commerce. However, this growth has also exposed businesses to escalating cyber risks.

According to the African Union’s Cybersecurity Outlook 2024, cybercrime costs the continent an estimated $4 billion annually, with Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa accounting for more than half of the losses.

In Nigeria, industry reports link multi-billion-naira losses to phishing, insider collusion, ransomware, and large-scale fraud schemes that continue to undermine public trust in financial services.

The ThinkNnovation Cybersecurity Conference 2025 is designed as a solution-driven platform, convening regulators, CIOs, CISOs, CROs, bank executives, fintech founders, policymakers, and international experts to confront pressing cybersecurity challenges.

Unlike generic tech events, the conference will focus on actionable strategies, policy frameworks, and collaborative defenses through keynote sessions, plenary discussions, investigative panels, and real-world simulation exercises on financial network attacks.