The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has said it continues to bolster engagements with institutions, particularly cited for high incidences of fraud, and strongly demands action plans to tackle and address incidence of fraud in banks.
The Bank said it has directed its regulated institutions to report fraud incidences to the investigative authorities for the appropriate course of action to be taken.
This comes after the 2023 annual Fraud Report revealed that the number of staff involved in fraudulent activities in Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) rose from 188 in 2022 to 274 in 2023, representing an increase of 46%.
According to the report, the case count of staff involvement in reported frauds.
“Out of the 274 cases of fraud recorded involving staff in 2023, 211 (77%) were involved in cash theft (cash suppression), as compared to 140 (66%) staff involved in 2022,” it said.
The report further that the “B0G is concerned about this statistic and requires Banks and SDIs to strengthen their internal controls and enhance staff due diligence during recruitment, as well as reinforcing continuous in-house staff training on professional conduct.”
As part of the measures to address this issue, the BoG said that in 2023 it continued its engagement with relevant stakeholders including the National Cyber Security Authority, the National Communication Authority, the National Security Secretariat, the Economic and Organized Crime Office and the Ghana Police Service to enhance collaboration in the fight against fraud, especially cyber related fraud.
“The BoG as part its engagements, hosted the Committee for Cooperation between Law Enforcement Agencies and the Banking Community (COCLAB) workshop in April 2024 to effectively map out strategies to fight fraud in the digital financial environment. Similar stakeholder engagements are planned during the year with the aim of strengthening collaboration in the fight against fraud in the financial system.
In view of the above findings and trends, the Bank of Ghana has directed that: Banks and SDIs should update their technologies and tools with enhanced built-in security features to curb fraud. They are equally mandated to prioritize employee training and continued due diligence and strengthening of internal controls.
▪ Banks should strengthen the security protocols for account access and transactions, including multi-factor authentication as well as regular update of mobile banking applications with biometric authentication and fix bug issues.
▪ Banks and SDIs should ensure that mobile applications that allow auto logins are deactivated and secure codes should be required each time the user opens the application.
▪ Banks and SDIs should ensure that Know-Your-Customer procedures during onboarding are strictly adhered to safeguard transaction verification processes.
▪ Banks and SDIs should intensify fraud sensitization to their customers.
▪ Banks and SDIs should collaborate effectively with law enforcement agencies in the event of staff fraud to ensure stiffer punishments are meted out to those found culpable to serve as deterrent.
The BoG asked the PsPs to implement robust financial fraud programs and processes to curb SIM swap related fraud.
▪ PSPs should provide all points of sale and outlets with adequate information on fraud risk management to enable them to identify and deal with fraud.
▪ PSPs must continue to share fraud related information with the Bank of Ghana and other relevant institutions in a timely manner.
▪ PSPs must screen their agents thoroughly before establishing relationships with them.
▪ The PSPs must deploy Ghana card verification systems to all their agents to minimise SIM swap impersonation.
Source:
3news.com
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 has said it continues to bolster engagements with institutions, particularly cited for high incidences of fraud, and strongly demands action plans to tackle and address incidence of fraud in banks. The Bank said it has directed its regulated institutions to report fraud incidences to the investigative authorities for the appropriate){kind=link}