Losses by commercial banks to financial fraud in the first quarter of this year declined by 77.62 per cent, compared to the previous quarter.
The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) revealed this in its recently released Q1 2024 fraud and forgeries report.
According to the report, banks lost N468.42 million in the first quarter, a substantial decline from the N2.09 billion loss they recorded in Q4, 2023.
In terms of the amount involved in fraud, the report also showed that a total of N2.99 billion was involved in fraud in the quarter, representing a 56.73 per cent decline when compared with the N6.91 billion recorded in the preceding quarter.
During the review period, commercial banks sacked 35 of their employees over their involvement in fraud.
This indicates a 288 per cent increase in the number of employees whose contracts were terminated when compared with the nine cases of termination recorded in Q4 2023.
However, staff involvement in fraud declined by 12.96 percent, indicating a decline from 54 cases in Q4 2023 to 47 in Q1 2024.
According to the report, outsider involvement in fraud cases increased by 0.45 per cent which is a slight increase when compared to the previous quarter, with the number rising from 10,350 cases in Q4 2023 to 10,397 cases in Q1 2024.
There was also a decline in the number of fraud cases reported by the banks compared to the previous quarter, with 11,472 cases reported in the quarter, compared to 12,405 in Q4 2023, a 7.52 per cent decrease.
FITC said the banks would need to be more vigilant and also understudy their fraud control activities in this quarter and improve upon the same to ensure that going forward the numbers keep dropping.
It, however, cautioned the financial institutions to align with regulatory standards and adopt transparent decision-making processes and ethical considerations while adopting the technologies that will help them manage fraud cases.
