Data from annual reports have shown that 8 Nigerian banks lost a total of 1.9 billion naira to fraud and fraud-related matters. These banks are Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank, Wema Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Polaris Bank Plc, and Sterling Bank Plc.
This data was computed from the annual reports of the aforementioned banks, and from facts and figures presented, Polaris and Zenith banks recorded the greatest and biggest losses within the same period. They both lost 938.4 million naira and 360 million naira respectively.
A breakdown of the facts and figures from Polaris bank showed that the total number of fraud recorded by the bank is 134 cases in the year 2020. The bank recorded a total of 7 categories of fraud which includes, Automated Teller Machine fraud (43 cases), Internet bank fraud (three cases), mobile fraud (46), impersonation fraud (three cases), cheque theft (one case), outright theft (25 cases) and general fraud incidents (113).
These fraud cost the bank a total of 938.4 million. The bank revealed that ATM, Internet bank, mobile, cheque theft and impersonation fraud cases cost the bank N830.1m, N37.7m, N16.2m, N1m and N989,700 respectively.
The bank added that outright theft and general fraud incidents resulted in N21.8m and N30.4m losses respectively.
Access Bank lost a total of N138.1m in 2020, N197.1m lower than what it recorded in the previous year. The bank’s fraud incidents increased from 5,836 cases in 2019 to 11,784 in 2020.
Zenith’s fraud losses grew by N92m from N268m recorded in 2019 to N360m in 2020. GTB fraud cases grew from 15,461 in 2019 to 17,310 in 2020, while fraud cases rose to N174.4m from N107.4m recorded in 2019.
A critical analysis of the reports revealed that Sterling Bank’s total fraud loss grew from N109.5m in 2019 to N132.23, while losses incurred by Fidelity Bank fell by N315.3m in the period under review. Sterling, Wema, and Fidelity recorded fraud losses of N132.23m, N105.4m, and N22.2m, respectively.
Union Bank lost N1.5m to fraud in 2020, N400,000 lower than what it recorded in the previous year. Wema bank recorded 1,201 fraud cases, leading to a loss of N105.4m, consisting of Internet fraud (N93.9m) and operational and other types of fraud (N11.4m).
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc said in Nigeria’s banking sector, N203.4m was lost in 984 fraud attempts, while 3,163 attempts that could have resulted to a N380.2m loss were repelled.
In February 2021, NIBSS released the second edition of its ‘Fraud in the Nigerian financial services’ report, which revealed that in the first nine months of 2020, financial institutions lost N5bn to fraudulent activities. It said, there is a need that financial institutions increase its protection for their customers’ investment.
