By The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has issued a cautionary directive to banks, urging them to comply with its monthly reporting requirement on fraud cases. This measure aims to assist the regulator in effectively monitoring fraudulent activities within the financial sector.
Dr. Kwasi Osei Yeboah, Head of Financial Stability at the BoG, emphasized the importance of collaboration among financial sector stakeholders to combat the issue.
Speaking at a workshop on cooperation between Law Enforcement Agencies and the Banking Community, Dr. Yeboah stressed the need for collective efforts to address this menace.
“This may be a hindrance to promote financial soundness and integrity because without that, people will not feel free to participate in product and services within the financial space”, he said.
“Banks are supposed to report all the fraud case to the Bank of Ghana even when nothing happens. They still have to do it. For us, even if one fraud occurs, it is important to us because it speaks to the concerns that the consumer will have for the financial sector”, he said.
John Awuah, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Banks, has advocated for a clear and decisive approach to addressing fraud-related cases within the financial sector.
“As we are moving a number of our operations to those platforms, confidence is very key in such cases on the part of our customers. As an association, we need a clear cut mechanism to get fraudsters apprehended because even one fraud is dangerous to the sector”, he stated.
The BoG’s fraud report in 2023 revealed that, the total loss value recorded by Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) in 2022 stood at approximately GH¢56million as compared to approximately GH¢61million in 2021.
This shows a 7.88% decrease from 2021.
It added that the year 2022 recorded 2,998 attempted fraud cases for the banking and SDI sectors, as compared to 2347 cases in 2021, representing a 27.74% increase.
