Access Bank Plc has approached the Federal High Court in Lagos to recover N1.34 billion allegedly lost through an unauthorised transfer of funds from four customers’ accounts in what the bank described as a suspected cyber fraud incident.
The incident, which raises fresh concerns about the financial and cybersecurity risks facing the banking system, involved funds allegedly moved through Access Bank’s internet banking platform, the Access SME App, to accounts held across 71 banks.
The affected accounts belong to MIB TXN Bullion, Aba Branch; AIICO General Insurance Company Limited; Apogee Engineering Limited; and Sims Nigeria Limited.
According to court documents filed by the bank and made available to journalists, a total of N1,340,425,393 was transferred without the customers’ authorisation.
The breakdown showed that N590,975,889 was allegedly taken from MIB TXN Bullion, N420,449,504 from AIICO General Insurance Company Limited, N136 million from Apogee Engineering Limited and N193 million from Sims Nigeria Limited.
Access Bank said it discovered the fraud when it resumed operations on August 12, 2026, following which it commenced an internal investigation into the incident.
The investigation reportedly showed that the funds had been transferred to several accounts domiciled with Access Bank and 71 other financial institutions.
The bank subsequently approached the Federal High Court with an ex-parte motion marked FHC/LAG/MISC/1168/2026, seeking urgent orders to prevent the further movement or withdrawal of the funds.
Access Bank asked the court to place post-no-debit restrictions on the accounts that received the money and other accounts linked to the beneficiaries’ Bank Verification Numbers.
It also asked the court to compel the affected banks to disclose the amounts still available in the beneficiary accounts and to watchlist the relevant BVNs until the stolen funds are recovered.
The bank said the urgent intervention was necessary because allowing the funds to be moved further could make recovery difficult or impossible.
Access Bank said it had already notified the affected banks of the suspected fraud and requested that the funds be preserved.
According to the bank, some of the receiving banks had placed post-no-debit restrictions on the accounts, but a court order was required to sustain the restrictions.
The bank further argued that the incident went beyond the loss suffered by individual customers, warning that cybercrime of such magnitude could undermine confidence in the banking system, financial security and the wider economy.
It said: “The grant of this application is also necessary to prevent cyber-crime which has the capacity to undermine economic and national interest.”
Access Bank also maintained that it had a duty to ensure that money transferred from customers’ accounts without authorisation was not further dissipated before recovery.
Justice Akintayo Aluko, after hearing submissions from the bank’s lawyer, Ifeoma E. Enyinnaya, granted three of the reliefs sought by Access Bank, directing measures aimed at preserving the funds.
However, the court declined to grant the fourth relief because it amounted to a final order at the current stage of the proceedings.
The judge subsequently adjourned the matter to August 31, 2026, for further proceedings and directed Access Bank to file an undertaking as to damages in case the orders were later found to have been wrongly granted.
The incident highlights the growing financial security implications of cyber fraud in Nigeria’s banking sector, particularly the risk of large-scale unauthorised transactions, rapid movement of stolen funds across multiple banks and the difficulty of recovering money once it has been dissipated.
For Access Bank and the wider financial system, the case also underscores the need for stronger digital banking controls, faster fraud detection and closer coordination among banks and regulators to contain cyber-enabled financial crimes.
