Built around the CBN automated-AML mandate · Circular BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/019/002 (10 March 2026)
The CBN's Baseline Standards require an automated AML/CFT/CPF solution that integrates with your core banking for real-time, cross-channel monitoring — not a standalone tool. You choose the detection engine. Ophir builds the integration, reconciliation and evidence layer that wires it into your real systems, reconciles every in-scope transaction into it, and proves it works in a parallel run before you commit. DMBs have until 10 Sep 2027; OFIs until 10 Mar 2028.
A new, deliberately narrow practice — UK and Lagos. We integrate around the AML detection tools you choose (Actimize, ComplyAdvantage, Youverify and the like) — we do not sell or replace them. Founded by Samuel Lawal, 20+ years in investment-banking payments and clearing.
The gap the mandate leaves you with
Buying an AML engine is the easy part. The Baseline Standards require it to integrate with core banking for real-time, cross-channel monitoring, with effective linkage to your CDD/KYC data — and to stand up to a live examiner walkthrough. On a fragmented legacy stack, that integration, reconciliation and evidence layer is where compliance is actually won or lost. (Wording paraphrased from reporting on the circular — verify verbatim against the original CBN PDF.)
Reporting on the standards indicates a tool running on transaction data alone — without effective linkage to CDD/KYC/KYB and customer-risk data — would not meet the bar. Closing that linkage is an integration problem, not a detection one.
From Feb 2026 the NFIU goAML platform auto-rejects malformed filings. Transactions, alerts and STR/CTR/FTR records have to reconcile end-to-end into the stricter schema — or filings bounce.
CBN exams are reported to test live systems, walk through alerts, and review model-validation and immutable audit-trail documentation. A productised evidence layer is a concrete deliverable.
What we automate
Not generic templates — automation designed around the systems, returns and processes your bank actually runs.
NIBSS/NIP, nostro-vostro, card settlement and chargebacks (Interswitch, Verve, Mastercard, Visa) reconciled overnight, line-by-line, at scale.
CBN returns (FinA/eFASS), NDIC, NFIU AML/CFT, FX and Basel reporting — auto-extracted, validated and formatted to end weekend war-rooms and late-filing penalties.
BVN/NIN validation, tier processing and document checks straight-through — onboarding in minutes, not days, with a full audit trail.
Form M and Form A processing, document capture and routing — OCR plus workflow automation for document-heavy operations.
Credit memo preparation, data aggregation and covenant checks assembled automatically, freeing analysts for judgement, not data entry.
CBN consumer-protection response SLAs met automatically — intake, routing, tracking and escalation so deadlines are never breached.
Net-of-cost model
A 30-second payback range — after implementation, run cost and the exception work that stays manual. Not a hero number.
Model the capacity tied up in AML data work today — net of what the layer costs.
Estimated payback — net of implementation, run cost & residual labour
to recover the build — then a recurring net gain of ₦66.0m–₦96.4m/yr.
Illustrative, net-of-cost model. It shows a payback range, not a guarantee, and assumes 15–30% of the work stays manual (exceptions) and a 12–20% annual run cost. It assumes no staff reduction — only capacity freed. We verify these numbers against your real feeds in a paid, time-boxed assessment before either side commits.
Pressure-test these against your real feedsWhy Ophir
We do not sell or replace AML detection (Actimize, ComplyAdvantage, Youverify). We make the engine you choose integrate, reconcile and evidence on your stack — additive to your vendor and your CoE, never a rival.
Integrations run inside your perimeter with role-based access, full audit logging and segregation of duties — examiner-ready by design. Nothing leaves your control.
A parallel run against your real baseline before cutover — you watch it reconcile against your existing process before you trust it. Weeks, not a multi-year programme.
The integration and reconciliation problem behind your AML programme is exactly what Samuel Lawal spent 20+ years on across payments and clearing — even though the firm itself is new.
Leadership
Ophir Automation is founded and led by Samuel Lawal — 20-plus years across investment banking, payments and clearing. That career was spent on exactly the problem the CBN mandate now forces onto every Nigerian institution: getting transaction, settlement and reference data to reconcile cleanly across fragmented systems, and proving — to auditors and examiners — that it does.
To be precise: that track record is Samuel's personal career at those institutions, not Ophir client history. Ophir is a new, deliberately conservative practice — and we keep that distinction sharp, because your diligence will, and should. What it means for you: the integration and reconciliation problem behind your AML programme is not new ground for the person leading the work, even though the firm is new.
Founder's career
Vocalink / Mastercard · Barclays · HSBC · LCH.Clearnet · Citibank · BP · Reuters
Investment banking, payments & clearing. The founder's career — not Ophir client history.
What we are — and are not
Not an AML detection or screening engine — the mandate requires you to deploy that, and you should choose the best vendor. We are the layer that makes the engine integrate, reconcile end-to-end, and stand up to a live examiner walkthrough.
How it works
A low-risk path from assessment to bank-wide scale — you see verified value at every stage.
A paid, time-boxed assessment of the integration, reconciliation and evidence gaps between your chosen AML tooling and your live stack. You receive a ranked readiness roadmap — yours to keep.
We wire one in-scope flow end-to-end and run it in parallel against your real volumes. Proof before commitment.
We industrialise the pilot — integration, reconciliation and the audit/evidence layer — around your AML engine and core systems.
Managed integration with monitoring, exception handling, and examiner-ready evidence kept current as the mandate and your volumes evolve.
How we deliver
A staged lifecycle with a go/no-go gate at every step — nothing scales without verified value and your sign-off.
Bots run inside your perimeter on your infrastructure. Your data never leaves your control or the country.
We design the edge cases before the happy path. Bots hand off to a human when unsure — never silently wrong.
Before you trust it, the bot runs in parallel with your existing process and its output is reconciled to match.
We stand up the templates, governance and skills for a Centre of Excellence you can eventually own. No lock-in.
Security & governance
The architecture your CISO and internal audit will scrutinise — designed, from the start, to satisfy them.
All processing stays inside your environment and in-country — aligned to the NDPA 2023 and CBN guidelines, including the payment-data localisation requirement. No cross-border data movement.
Bots use scoped service accounts with the minimum rights. Secrets live in a vault (e.g. CyberArk), retrieved at runtime — never in code or logs.
Every bot action is logged with time, identity and outcome — auditable for internal audit and CBN examination. A control improvement, not a risk.
A bot never both initiates and approves. Maker-checker and your existing controls stay fully intact.
Every deployment goes through your ITIL / change-board process — controlled, documented and reversible.
Bots fail safe to a human fallback. No single point of failure; documented run and recovery procedures.
We welcome your penetration test, risk assessment and vendor due diligence — the architecture is designed to pass it.
Book a compliance briefing
A working session for your Chief Compliance Officer or CRO, with your Head of Ops and CISO. We map the integration, reconciliation and evidence gaps between your chosen AML tooling and your live stack.