In the last two years, a significant number of bank executives and junior staff, totaling 110, have been dismissed due to fraud-related incidents.
The data emerged from the ‘Reports of Fraud and Forgeries in Nigerian Banks,’ released by the Financial Institutions Training Centre between Q2 2021 and Q2 2023.
This center comprises members of the Nigerian Banker’s Committee, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, and all licensed banks in Nigeria.
The findings revealed that the count of dismissals for fraud surged from four in Q2 2021 to 11 in Q2 2023, marking a 175% increase. Notably, the highest number of dismissals took place in Q3 2022, totaling 20 officials.
The data showed that there were 52 cases of bank staff being fired for fraud between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022.
This number increased to 58 cases between Q3 2022 and Q2 2023. Additionally, the staff involved in these incidents were connected to a total of 967 fraud cases.
During this period, a substantial sum of N18.01 billion was lost due to fraudulent activities involving both bank staff and external parties, out of a total of N81.69 billion connected to fraud cases.
The peak loss occurred in Q2 2023, amounting to N5.79 billion, while the lowest was N472.28 million in Q1 2023.
The prevalent types of fraud remained consistent throughout, with mobile fraud, computer/web fraud, and point-of-sale (PoS) related fraud being the most common.
This pattern persisted until Q2 2023.
In a notable case from June 2022, three former workers of First Bank of Nigeria faced trial for attempted fraud, accused of trying to embezzle N20 billion from the bank.
They allegedly conspired to gain unauthorized access to the bank’s server.
In another instance, four men were arraigned at the Yaba Magistrates’ Court in June for defrauding their employer, Think Finance Microfinance Bank, of N150 million.
Four Nigerian deposit money banks, including Access Bank, GTB, First Monument City Bank, and Wema Bank, collectively lost N1.77 billion due to fraudulent activities in 2021.
Notably, there was a 56.45% decrease in reported fraud cases between the first six months of 2022 compared to the second half of 2021.
Experts have emphasized the need for increased education and protective measures within banks to curb fraud.
Both the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria and an ICT expert from e86 Limited highlighted the role of insiders in some of these cases, suggesting better education and support for bank staff alongside improvements in internal processes.
Furthermore, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise advised banks to enhance their security protocols and adopt advanced fraud detection systems.
The institution recommended measures like multi-factor authentication, strong encryption techniques, and consistent security updates to safeguard against unauthorized access and fraud incidents.
