Traditional Regulatory Tools Can No Longer Govern Modern Banking, NITDA DG Tells CBN Directors

By Lukman Oladokun

The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, CCIE has declared that Nigeria’s financial stability can no longer be guaranteed through traditional regulatory approaches, warning that banking has evolved into a complex digital ecosystem requiring real-time supervision, cross-sector collaboration, digital sovereignty, and enhanced operational resilience.

Speaking on “Digital Transformation, Supervision, Innovation and Operational Resilience” at the 15th Retreat of the Central Bank of Nigeria Committee of Departmental Directors, themed “From Reform to Institutionalisation: Strengthening the CBN Capacity to Deliver Sustainable Financial System Stability,” in Lagos, Inuwa said regulators must move beyond monitoring individual institutions to overseeing the entire digital ecosystem powering modern finance.

He called for a fundamental rethinking of financial sector regulation, asserting that in an era of digital banking, financial stability is impossible without digital stability.

Inuwa said the rapid evolution of banking from physical branches to mobile platforms, fintech ecosystems and embedded finance has rendered many traditional supervisory models inadequate for current realities. “To achieve financial stability, we need digital stability. Without digital stability, today we cannot be talking about financial stability in the financial sector,” he said.

The NITDA Director General noted that banking has progressed through multiple phases of transformation, from branch-based operations to internet banking, mobile banking and digitally embedded financial services, creating an ecosystem that now extends beyond the direct regulatory reach of financial institutions.