Read Bank of Ghana’s measures to tackle fraud in banks, SDIs

Following the fraud cases recorded in banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs), the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has outlined a number of directives to the financial institutions to be undertake in order to minimize the cases.

The year 2022 recorded 2998 cases of attempted fraud cases for the banking and SDIs sectors, as compared to 2347 cases in 2021, representing a 27.74% increase.

The Fraud Report, published by the central bank indicated that a total loss value recorded in 2022 stood at approximately GH¢56million as compared to approximately GH¢61million in 2021.

Below is the list of directives issued to banks and SDIs to curb fraud…

Banks are directed to immediately communicate fraud cases in their institutions to the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Association of Banks to alert all others on the approaches deployed to avoid recurrence.

▪ Banks and SDIs are directed to increase the level of fraud sensitization to their customers.

▪ Banks and SDIs are directed to constantly review the adequacy and operating effectiveness of their risk management (credit risk) and internal control frameworks to detect fraud and other financial crimes within their institutions.

▪ Banks and SDIs are directed to report financial crime including all cash theft (cash suppression) cases to the Ghana Police Service and update the Bank of Ghana until the case is closed.

▪ Banks and SDIs that use mobile applications and internet banking platforms are directed to enable a multi-factor authentication code for their applications to help protect customers.

▪ Banks and SDIs are directed to continuously train their staff to help identify and fight fraud.

▪ Banks and SDIs are directed to ensure the independence of the internal audit functions to provide independent assurance to the Board on the effectiveness of the risk management, internal controls and corporate governance structures of the institutions.

▪ Banks and SDIs are directed to strengthen their ethical codes of conduct by improving the tone at the top and ensuring compliance with the requirements of the ethical values of the institutions.