Staff involvement in fraud at financial institutions saw marginal reduction in 2022 - BoG report
The fraud cases involving staff decreased to 188 in 2022, as compared to 278 in 2021.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) says the incidence of staff involvement in fraud committed at financial institutions saw a significant decline in 2022, particularly dropping from 53.46% in 2021 to 47.84% in 2022.
Noting in its Banking, SDI, and PSPs Fraud report, the Central Bank attributed the marginal reduction to constant improvement in the internal controls of Banks and Specialised Depositing-Taking Institutions (SDIs), as well as the “stiff punishment that has been meted out by the courts to the culprits which has served as a deterrent to others.”
“The fraud cases involving staff decreased to 188 in 2022, as compared to 278 in 2021. Most of the incidents recorded involving staff had to do with cash theft (cash suppression) from customers’ accounts and happened to be a very common fraud typology in the Rural and Community banking sector,” the report detailed.
Overall, 2022 recorded more cases of attempted fraud for the banking and SDI sectors, although the total loss value declined compared to 2021.
" The year 2022 recorded 2998 cases of attempted fraud cases for the banking and SDI sectors, as compared to 2347 cases in 2021, representing a 27.74% increase. Total loss value recorded in 2022 stood at approximately GH¢56million as compared to approximately GH¢61million in 2021. This shows a 7.88% decrease from 2021.
The major drivers (top five) fraud typologies that impacted most of the institutions in the sector included forgery and manipulation of documents, fraudulent withdrawals, cheque fraud, cyber/email, and cash theft (cash suppression)."
