The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has cautioned banks to comply with its monthly report on fraud cases.
This is to aid the regulator in consolidating measures in tracking fraudulent activities in the financial sector.
According to the Head of Financial Stability at the BoG, Dr. Kwasi Osei Yeboah, the bank will continue to collaborate with all financial sector players to sanitize the sector.
Speaking at a workshop on Committee for Co-operations between the Law Enforcement Agencies and the Banking Community, Dr. Yeboah called for a more collaborative effort from stakeholders to address the 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.
The Chief Executive Officer for the Ghana Association of Banks, John Awuah called for a clear cut approach in 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.