Union Bank Hit by N9.3 Billion Fraud After System Breach, Court Orders Freeze on Suspect Accounts
Union Bank of Nigeria Plc is at the center of a major banking scandal after a massive system breach resulted in the unauthorized withdrawal of N9.3 billion from customers’ accounts.
The fraud, which occurred on March 23, 2025, has prompted urgent legal action by the bank to recover the stolen funds, which were allegedly dispersed across 53 financial institutions in Nigeria.
In a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos (Suit No. FHC/L/CS/629/2025), Union Bank is seeking a preservative order to freeze the accounts of all recipients and beneficiaries of the illicit transfers. The motion was granted by Justice Deinde Dipeolu on April 2, 2025.
According to court filings, the breach stemmed from a core banking system failure, which the bank says was exploited to initiate a series of fraudulent and unauthorized transfers.
“The funds were fraudulently and erroneously transferred from customers’ accounts,” said Oluwasegun Falola, Head of the E-Fraud Investigations Department at Union Bank, in an affidavit submitted to the court.
Falola stated that the money was dispersed in small amounts into numerous accounts across various banks, with some funds already moved from initial recipient accounts into secondary accounts, further complicating recovery efforts.
Union Bank’s counsel, A. Adedoyin-Adeniyi, told the court that the stolen funds were still being moved across accounts as of the date of the hearing.
“₦9.3 billion has been moved from the account, and they are still moving funds. We now have more people involved,” she told the court, emphasizing the urgency of halting the dissipation.
The bank’s internal audit and legal teams have compiled extensive reports tracing the flow of funds and identifying all accounts involved, which have been submitted to the respondent financial institutions.
This incident comes just over a year after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) dissolved Union Bank’s board and management in a sweeping reform effort aimed at curbing governance failures in several banks. The current leadership, under Managing Director Yetunde Oni, was appointed in the wake of that intervention.
The breach has raised serious concerns about the vulnerability of Nigeria’s financial systems amid rising interbank transactions and digital banking activities. Analysts warn that weak system infrastructure and poor security oversight may be fueling sophisticated fraud attacks.
As at the time of this report, Union Bank has not issued an official statement in response to media inquiries.
