Nigerian banks lost N42.6bn to fraud in three months – FITC

Nigerian commercial banks lost a total of N42.6 billion to fraud and forgeries over the three months from April to June 2024.

The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) disclosed this in its Q2 2024 Fraud and Forgeries report, released on Saturday.

The report, based on returns on fraud and forgery cases from 28 deposit money institutions in the country, highlighted a worrisome surge in fraudulent activities.

The figure surpassed the total amount lost to fraud in 2023, which stood at N9.4 billion.

A further breakdown showed that the Q2 loss represents an 8,993 percent increase compared to the N468.4 million lost in Q1 2024.

This also reflects a 637 percent increase compared to the N5.7 billion loss recorded in Q2 2023.

The data revealed that miscellaneous and other fraud types constituted the largest loss, representing 96.46 percent of the total amount lost, with a value of N41.14 billion.

This was followed by losses from fraudulent withdrawals and computer/web fraud, amounting to approximately N781.2 million and N400.7 million, respectively.

FITC urged Nigerian banks to strengthen access controls to settlement files.

“Access controls should also be strengthened by limiting access to settlement files to only a small, vetted group of authorised personnel given the appropriate clearance and regularly trained on the latest security protocols.

“The implementation of multi-factor authentication and role-based access controls can aid in reducing the risk of unauthorized changes to settlement files,” FITC stated.