Due to an erroneous transfer at Keystone Bank, ₦5.7 billion was mistakenly credited to various recipients.
Justice D.E. Osiagor of the Federal High Court in Lagos issued an order on February 18, 2025, to freeze transactions on the affected accounts. The occurrence of such an incident has raised concerns about the reliability of the banking system.
Several banks, including Opay, Sterling Bank, Providus Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, GTBank, TAJ Bank, United Bank, First Bank, Moniepoint, Fidelity Bank, and United Bank for Africa, are among those with frozen accounts. The erroneous transfers took place between February 9 and 11, 2025.
The exact cause of the error has not yet been determined. While some experts argue that the incident was deliberately orchestrated, others suggest it was the result of a processing error.
A similar incident occurred earlier in January. Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) had to secure a court order to recover ₦1.9 billion that was mistakenly credited to customer accounts following a system failure in October 2024.
As transaction volumes continue to grow, some experts warn that outdated infrastructure and weak oversight are contributing factors to such issues.