Banking industry recorded 25,043 fraud cases in 2017

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7 years ago

LATEST data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made public over the weekend has shown that the number of fraud cases in the banking industry increased by 28.0 per cent to 25,043 at end-December 2017, but actual losses declined by 24.0 per cent relative to that of 2016.

In its 2017 annual reports and accounts, the CBN stated that the number of frauds was 19,531 in 2016, while actual loss reduced to N1.631 trillion in 2017 as compared to N2.196 trillion actual loss of 2016.

The CBN said it received a total of 2,236 scam e-mails and acted promptly to protect unsuspecting people in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa from falling victims of spurious contracts.

Fifty-nine (59) complaints were received from members of the public against commercial banks; some of which were handled by the bank, and others referred to the EFCC for necessary action.

“A total of 14 local and foreign calls were received through the whistle-blowing helpline, and treated, accordingly. Employees were sensitised to comply with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) Act on Asset Declaration,” the report read in part.

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According to the report, currency-in-circulation (CIC) fell marginally by 1.0 per cent to N2.157 trillion as at end-December 2017, compared with the level of N2.179 trillion in 2016. The decrease in CIC according to the report reflected developments in economic activities, as well as positive impact of the cashless policy of the bank.

A breakdown of the CIC indicated that the proportion of higher denomination banknotes (N100, N200, N500 and N1000) fell from 44.4 to 41.9 in volume terms and from 97.6 to 96.9 per cent in value terms in 2017, respectively.

The higher denomination banknotes were predominant, as these constituted 53.3 and 96.9 per cent, in volume and value terms, respectively, of the total banknotes in circulation during the review period.

In another development, the report showed that the staff of the bank sustained support for the less-privileged in the society through regular contributions to the CBN Staff Alms Fund (C-SAF), which totaled N53, 539,704.89 in 2017.