Concern has been expressed by the Financial Institution Training Centre (FITC) regarding the increasing involvement of bank employees in fraudulent cases in Nigeria.
FITC stated that such bank staff members are abusing the privilege of having access to the bank in order to commit fraud on bank customers.
FITC stated that such bank staff members are abusing the privilege of having access to the bank in order to commit fraud on bank customers.
The number of bank employees who lost their jobs as a result of fraudulent activity rose by a factor of 90 during the second quarter of 2022, compared to ten cases reported during the first quarter of 2022.
When compared to the same time period in 2021, the statistics revealed a concerning increase of 375 percent, especially considering the fact that just four employees fired for fraud during the second quarter of 2021. FITC reported that 73 bank employees were were involved in fraudulent activities during the second quarter of 2022 when a total of N1.17 billion lost to fraud across 24 banks in Nigeria.
The data lends validity to widespread rumors that the vast majority of fraudulent operations on bank clients’ accounts carried out in collusion with bank employees.
Because of the growing trend of young Nigerians emigrating from the country and the ongoing loss of key IT staff to Fintech, which is hitting the IT departments of most Nigerian banks, there has been an increase in the number of bank customers whose money stolen due to fraud as a result of the technical lapses left by the trend. This is because the trend has left a number of technical lapses.
Insider sources from certain banks have also implicated members of the bank’s technology personnel who are preparing to leave the company for perpetrating at least some of the crimes in order to amass sufficient funds with which to finance their departure.
“Given the growing number of employees involved in fraudulent activities, banks should exercise extra caution when employing new staff or contracting an outsourcing firm for employment,” the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FITC) said while advising financial institutions to put adequate measures in place to discourage their employees from engaging in fraudulent activity.
This sends a positive message to other staff, and they too would want to be recognized and rewarded as well. As a measure to curb the involvement of staff in fraudulent activities, staff who have also acted with high integrity in circumstances in which they would have acted otherwise should be duly commended and rewarded for their actions. “As a measure to curb the involvement of staff in fraudulent activities, staff who have also acted with high integrity in circumstances in which they would have acted otherwise should be duly commended and
