The Bank of Ghana, among others, ensure effective and efficient operations of the

banking and credit systems, and support general economic growt

It is becoming increasingly clear that some personnel of financial institutions are involved in fraudulent activities to dupe their customers and make more money to meet their own selfish ends.

This is a matter of great concern to the Bank of Ghana as well as management staff of some of the financial institutions. What this means is that the financial institutions are expected to put in more measures aimed at exposing all those involved in this shameful practice.

WHY FRAUDULENT DEALS?

The question is why the staff of any financial institutions be involved in such fraudulent deals?

Many young people of today do not pay attention to integrity but are only concerned with making money in the shortest possible time. Again, many of the institutions take things for granted and, therefore, give room to some of their staff to engage themselves in fraud. More importantly, however, young people of today as well as some adults think of acquiring wealth without recourse to the business growth of the organisations that they work for. This is a very unfortunate situation.

Such fraudulent deals erode the confidence that customers have in the various types of institutions that operate in the country. If nothing is done about it, many people will begin to lose confidence in making use of the services of these financial institutions.

ROLE OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Banking institutions in any country play a great and significant role in economic development. Banks and other financial institutions help to mop up savings from people and use such savings as a financial resource to facilitate the operations of business enterprises. These business enterprises may operate on a large, small or medium scale, so without the mobilisation of funds from individuals and organisations, it becomes very difficult for the central bank and the government to get enough funds to finance economic activities in the country.

Without such financing, business operations will come to a standstill and show very little growth in the economy. Start-up business entities as well as existing ones are able to help business organisations to expand through such financing. The mopping up of financial resources to make it possible for business organisations to get access to finances for business purposes is, therefore, important if we are to ensure business growth and economic expansion. Such growth and business expansion is what helps to bring about enhanced economic welfare in the country.

STAFF COMPLICITY IN FRAUD SOARS

According to the Bank of Ghana, staff involvement in fraud has seen an increase since last year. This unpleasant development must be discouraged without delay.

Staff of Banks and other Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions involvement in fraud, constituted 53.46 per cent of total fraud cases in 2021, a report by the Bank of Ghana has noted. This canker continued to increase in the year under review.

Statistics indicate that staff involvement in fraud cases increased to 278, as compared with 253 in 2020, representing an increase of 9.88 per cent in year-on-year terms.

For 2021, the Rural and Community Banks recorded the highest rate of staff involvement in fraud with a figure of 46.04 per cent. The Universal Banks accounted for 28.06 per cent, while the Savings and Loans Companies accounted for 16.55 per cent.

LACK OF HONESTY & INTEGRITY

The banking staff are getting involved in such disgraceful acts because of the lack of honesty and integrity on the part of many of them. The way the banks recruit their personnel must be made more rigorous, so as to weed out all those who are likely to fall prey to fraudulent activities with the aim of making massive wealth for themselves within a very short time.

Also, staff of financial institutions found to be involved in fraudulent deals must be made to face the rigid consequences of the law, so as to deter others from doing same.

LACK OF ADEQUATE CONTROL SYSTEMS

This issue, unpleasant as it is, cannot be swept under the carpet. The Bank of Ghana said the consistently high rate of staff involvement in fraud cases reported by Banks and SDIs may be due to lack of adequate control systems in the financial institutions (especially the Rural Banking sector), poor background investigations on prospective, newly appointed and temporary staff, poor remuneration in the Banking and SDI sectors, among others.

These factors accounting for the fraudulent behaviour of some staff of the financial institutions must be eliminated from our society by hook or crook. Things should not be taken for granted.

APPROPRIATE CORRECTIVE MEASURES

Rather, the appropriate corrective measures needed must be put in place to ensure that the banking and financial sectors are sanitised once and for all, so that business growth in the country can be guaranteed.

It is this guarantee that will smoothen out all the rough edges to make it possible for business operators to be encouraged to carry out their successful business activities without any fear.

By Dr. Kofi Amponsah-Bediako