Failed Transactions Erode Trust in Digital Finance- Report

Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital financial ecosystem is facing a growing confidence challenge, with failed transactions and ineffective dispute resolution emerging as the biggest threats to consumer trust, a policy report by the Bridgforte Centre for Global Impact has shown.

The report titled Trust Architecture in Platform-Led Finance, warned that strengthening public confidence has become as critical as expanding financial access. According to the report, transaction reliability and prompt dispute resolution ranked as the strongest drivers of trust among financial sector leaders consulted during the research, underscoring that consumers judge financial systems most harshly when they experience service failures.

It noted that while digital finance has witnessed rapid growth across emerging markets, confidence in the ecosystem has not kept pace, making coordinated efforts by regulators, financial institutions and technology providers essential to sustaining financial inclusion.

The findings were reinforced by the report’s trust assessment, which showed that senior industry leaders who participated in Bridgforte’s Executive Table held in Lagos in February rated the resilience of trust in Nigeria’s platform-led financial ecosystem at 5.4 out of 10. Participants polled independently during the global launch recorded a closely aligned score of 5.7, suggesting a broad consensus that significant trust gaps remain despite increased digital financial adoption.

Speaking at the launch of the report, founder of Bridgforte and former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Aishah  Ahmad, said customers no longer interact with isolated financial institutions but experience an interconnected financial system, making collaboration critical to building confidence.

“Customers do not experience individual institutions. They experience the financial system as a whole, and in increasingly interconnected financial systems, trust is built or broken in the handoffs between institutions. Trust is not a communications exercise. It is a governance outcome, and it must be deliberately designed,” she said.

Ahmad stressed that strengthening confidence requires systemic reforms rather than isolated institutional improvements, noting that trust should receive the same strategic attention as financial stability and financial inclusion.

She announced the establishment of the Bridgforte Trust Lab, a long-term initiative that will focus on research, dialogue and measurement to deepen understanding of how trust in platform-led financial systems is built, weakened and restored.

Also speaking at the launch, deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Nomfundo Tshazibana, described trust and confidence as “economic infrastructure,” saying resilient financial systems are anchored on credible institutions, sound governance, effective collaboration and continuously earned public confidence.

The report introduced the Bridgforte Trust Architecture Framework, which identifies five pillars considered essential for strengthening confidence in digital financial ecosystems. These include infrastructure integrity, institutional accountability, technology governance, ecosystem coordination and cultural confidence.

According to the report, these pillars operate across three critical relationships, between consumers and institutions, among institutions themselves, and between regulators and financial institutions, stating that trust is continuously tested at every point of interaction within the financial ecosystem.

The report noted that as digital financial services become increasingly interconnected, building public confidence will require coordinated action across the entire financial ecosystem, rather than improvements by individual institutions alone.