Top Nigerian Banks Staff Involved In ₦11.697B Total Fraud Cases In Q1 2021

The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) has released its reports on fraud and forgeries in Nigerian banks for the first quarter of 2021.

Brandnewsday had reported that a staggering total sum of 11.697 billion naira was involved in fraudulent and forgery activities in the Nigerian banking sector for the period under review. However, only a total of ₦726,439 million was the actual loss recorded in the first quarter of the year 2021.

While the Centre does not mention the major banks involved in the fraudulent acts, we have our suspicion.

Zenith Bank PLC

Zenith Bank PLC, on Friday, 21st February 2020 released its financial statement for the year 2019 and the report on fraud and forgery was alarming. The bank recorded a sum of ₦1,212,776,438 billion loss due to fraud and forgeries for the year 2019. More worrying, the staff perpetrated fraud accounted for 82.44% of the total loss.

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In contrast, the staff perpetrated a fraud for the financial year 2018 accounted for only 67% of the total fraud case of the same bank. Other sources of fraud and forgeries familiar with Zenith Bank are stolen/forged instruments, impersonation, internet banking fraud, ATM fraud, among others.

Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank)

Another major suspect is Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank). The bank recorded 17, 310 cases of fraud, involving the amount of ₦1.358 billion but which resulted in the actual loss of over ₦174 million for the year 2020.

The bank had recorded 13,461incidents of fraud, involving the amount of over ₦1.535 billion but which resulted in the actual loss of ₦107,445 million for the year 2019.

Wema Bank

For Wema Bank, 1,201 incidents of fraud and forgery were reported for the financial year 2020 and the total amount involved was two hundred and thirty-seven million, five hundred and nine naira. This resulted in the actual loss of ₦105,461,973.88. Internet fraud constituted the biggest threat as it accounted for 67% of the total loss. Mobile banking fraud constituted 8.61%, ATM (4.57%), and POS (4.42%).

Top Nigerian Banks Staff Involved In ₦11.697B Total Fraud Cases In Q1 2021

The staff involved in the fraud accounted for 11% of the total loss. In comparison, staff involvement in 1,056 incidents of fraud for 2019 was 14 cases; the total amount involved was ₦168.77 million and $3,100 and this resulted in the actual loss of ₦96.53 million and $3,100.

Access Bank

A total of 11,784 incidents of fraudulent activities was reported at Access Bank in the year 2020. Funnily, ATM/electronic fraud which constituted 99.4% of the reported cases did not result in any loss for the bank. Only incidents of cash theft/suppression (40.48%) and fraudulent transfer/withdrawal (59.52%) accounted for the actual loss of 138.17 million naira. This was an improvement over what was obtained in the previous year.

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In the year 2019, Access Bank reported 5,836 cases of fraud and forgeries and this resulted in the actual loss of ₦335,202,748. While cash theft/suppression and fraudulent transfer/withdrawal accounted for 29.96% and 36.43% of the total loss respectively, cyber-attack accounted for 28.75% and armed robbery accounted for 4.86% of the total loss.

The list of banks recording losses to fraud and forgery activities is endless. However, it is important that we acknowledge the drastic reduction in the amount being lost to these criminal activities. We can only hope that these are reduced to the barest minimum as we await the report for the second quarter of the year.