Staff Involvement In Banking Fraud Declines; Report Finds

A recent report from the Bank of Ghana has revealed a positive development in the fight against fraud within financial institutions, showing a decrease in staff involvement.

Compared to the previous year, the 2022 Banking Sector and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDTI) fraud report revealed a decrease of 5.62% in staff involvement.

“The year 2022 has seen a marginal reduction in the percentage of staff involvement to 47.84% from 53.46%,” it said.

The Central Bank says this is significant and attributed it to constant improvement in the internal controls of Banks and SDTIs.

It added, “Another factor is the stiff punishment that has been meted out by the courts to the culprits which has served as a deterrent to others. Banks and SDIs have also been admonished to undertake proper background checks of all prospective temporary and permanent employees.”

The report shows GH¢56 million was lost in 2,998 fraud cases in the year 2022.

Although the monetary loss decreased by 7.83% compared to 2021, the number of reported cases increased by 27.74%.

The top five fraud categories identified in the report were cash theft (cash suppression), cyber/email-related fraud, fraudulent withdrawals, impersonation, and EMoney fraud.