First HoldCo Plc has appointed Gwen Mwaba as a non-executive director of the financial institution, effective 15 October, following an approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The lender disclosed the appointment in a regulatory filing signed by Abiola Baruwa, the group company secretary, on Thursday.

First HoldCo said the appointment was made in accordance with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Rulebook.

According to the lender, Ms Mwaba brings significant expertise in corporate governance and board oversight, credit risk and portfolio management, banking strategy, capital deployment, structured trade and commodity finance, development finance, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, and emerging-market risk.

Profile

Ms Mwaba brings nearly three decades of experience in global banking and development finance institutions, with particular expertise in credit risk oversight, portfolio governance, corporate and sovereign lending, structured trade and commodity finance, development finance and emerging markets.

Until recently, she served as managing director of Trade Finance and Correspondent Banking at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), based in Cairo, Egypt.

In that role, Ms Mwaba had executive leadership responsibility for trade finance and structured credit activities across Africa and the Caribbean.

The newly appointed director also oversaw a $19.5 billion portfolio of sovereign, financial institution and corporate exposures.

She contributed to the bank’s Pre-Credit and Credit Committees, providing senior credit judgement on major lending transactions. She also oversaw portfolio strategy, sector exposures and country risk limits.

Before that, Ms Mwaba served as regional head for Anglophone West Africa at Afreximbank, overseeing regional strategy and credit origination across Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia and Cape Verde.

Earlier, she was executive vice president of Structured Trade and Commodity Finance at Standard Bank Plc, London, where she was responsible for complex commodity finance, export credit agency-backed facilities and pre-export financing transactions across Africa.

Her earlier banking career included senior roles at Stanbic Bank Zambia and Standard Bank South Africa, including head of Vehicle and Asset Finance and head of Corporate Banking.

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Ms Mwaba’s wider industry experience includes membership of the editorial board of Trade Treasury & Payments.

Until recently, her also served on the Multilateral Institutions Board Advisory Panel of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA) and the World Trade Organization-led Expert Group on Trade Finance.

Ms Mwaba holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.

She is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and holds a professional qualification from the Chartered Institute of Transport.

INTERPOL said it has traced more than $2.4 million in suspected criminal proceeds to an international investment fraud scheme promoted through messaging applications in Nigeria, in an operation that resulted in 1,462 arrests across 21 countries.

The Nigerian investigation was conducted under Operation Serengeti III, a major cybercrime crackdown coordinated by INTERPOL between June 29 and August 31, 2026, targeting cyber-enabled fraud, ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), online scams and digital extortion across Africa.

A suspect was arrested in Nigeria in connection with the investment fraud investigation, while financial inquiries traced the movement of more than $2.4 million in suspected criminal proceeds. INTERPOL said much of the money had been laundered through cryptocurrency transactions, according to the international law enforcement agency.

In a separate investigation, Nigerian authorities arrested a suspect linked to a large-scale phishing and business email compromise operation that harvested software credentials and amassed approximately 2.1 million email addresses. Investigators also recovered a luxury vehicle suspected to have been purchased with criminal proceeds.

INTERPOL did not identify the Nigerian suspect or disclose the messaging applications used to promote the fraudulent investment opportunities. It also did not provide details on the number of victims associated with the Nigerian investigation.

Across the wider operation, authorities identified 65,929 victims targeted by cybercriminal networks and linked criminal activities to financial losses exceeding $385 million. Law enforcement agencies recovered more than $105 million in illicit funds and disrupted 10,909 malicious networks.

Two Nigerian cybercrime investigations

The Nigerian investment fraud case was one of two investigations highlighted by INTERPOL from the operation.

In a separate investigation, Nigerian authorities arrested a suspect linked to a large-scale phishing and business email compromise operation that harvested software credentials and amassed approximately 2.1 million email addresses. Investigators also recovered a luxury vehicle suspected to have been purchased with criminal proceeds.

The two cases demonstrate the range of cyber-enabled crimes investigated by Nigerian authorities during Operation Serengeti III, from investment fraud involving cryptocurrency to attacks designed to steal email credentials and compromise business communications.

Cross-border cybercrime

Operation Serengeti III brought together law enforcement agencies from 21 countries to identify suspects, disrupt criminal infrastructure and trace funds linked to cybercrime.

Before the operation began, investigators from 20 African countries and the United States received actionable intelligence on suspicious domains, IP addresses and command-and-control infrastructure associated with criminal activity.

Private-sector partners also supported the operation by providing intelligence, technical analysis and operational expertise to help investigators identify targets, map criminal networks and support investigations.

Neal Jetton, INTERPOL Director of Cybercrime, said the operation demonstrated the importance of international cooperation against criminal networks that operate across national borders.

“Cybercrime networks operate without regard for borders, exploiting technology to target victims on an unprecedented scale,” Jetton said.

“Operation Serengeti III reinforces a clear message: while cybercrime is increasingly borderless, international cooperation remains one of the most effective tools for disrupting criminal networks, recovering criminal assets and protecting communities from digital harm,” he added. The operation produced significant arrests and seizures elsewhere in Africa.

In Uganda, authorities dismantled two transnational fraud rings and arrested 365 foreign nationals linked to online investment and pension fraud schemes targeting victims across Asia.

Investigators uncovered a rotating call-centre model in which suspects allegedly used scripted communications, fake trading platforms and fraudulent websites to persuade pensioners to invest in non-existent opportunities.

In Angola, authorities dismantled two illegal cryptocurrency mining centres, arrested nine suspects and seized more than 2,000 cryptocurrency mining devices, alongside six illegal power transformation stations. The seized electrical infrastructure alone was valued at more than $1 million.

Elsewhere, authorities dismantled a malicious mobile loan application scheme in Tanzania, disrupted a social media-based vehicle import fraud network in Gabon and arrested 30 suspects linked to a cybercrime operation in the Republic of Congo.

AI and evolving cyber threats

The operation comes as cybercrime across Africa evolves alongside wider adoption of artificial intelligence and digital financial services.

INTERPOL’s African Cyber Threat Assessment Report 2026 identifies AI as an increasingly important enabler of cybercrime, with the technology being used across different stages of attacks, while cyber-enabled financial losses continue to rise.

The growing use of digital platforms for financial transactions and investment promotion is also creating new opportunities for criminals to reach potential victims across borders.

Investment scams promoted through messaging applications can exploit trust in online communications, while cryptocurrency transactions can add complexity to efforts to trace and recover suspected criminal proceeds.

However, INTERPOL’s information on Operation Serengeti III does not establish that artificial intelligence was used in the Nigerian investment fraud investigation.

Several investigations arising from the operation remain active, with authorities continuing efforts to identify additional suspects, trace illicit proceeds and analyse seized digital evidence.

The Nigerian investigation forms part of a broader international effort to disrupt cybercriminal networks, recover funds linked to suspected offences and strengthen cooperation among law enforcement agencies confronting increasingly sophisticated digital threats.