The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB), John Awuah, has cautioned that staff in the banking sector cannot use low salaries as a reason to defraud customers.

According him, workers accepted the specified remuneration that comes with their duty before employment. Therefore, if they are discontented, it is better for them to leave.

During an interview, Mr. John Awuah emphasized that integrity and patience should be the hallmark for all individuals working in the financial sector.

“Nobody compels anyone to take up one job or the other. Once you accept the job, you take up all the conditions that come with the assignment. So, if you get frustrated along the line, it is not for you to vent that frustration on customers for whose reason you have that job. And so, you can never use [poor] remuneration as a justification for fraudulent activity. It is about integrity.”
John Awuah

The CEO’s remarks come in the wake of rising fraud cases associated with the banking sector which Bank of Ghana (BoG) revealed in its recent report.

With regard to BoG’s report, “56% of reported fraud cases and 93% of reported cash suppression cases involved staff of the reporting institutions [banks and SDIs]”.

Also, the report uncovered that there has been a continued trend of staff involvement in fraud over the years.

Bank of Ghana further explained that, “the steady rise in this phenomenon [staff involvement in fraud] generally could be attributed to the use of poorly remunerated temporary staff, who undergo limited background checks, for sensitive tasks and a lack of corporate governance systems that helps to ensure accountability and fairness and transparency”.

However, Mr. John Awuah disagreed with BoG’s assertion that poor working conditions should be blamed for the fraudulent activities of staff in the banking industry.

He further opined that the fraudulent nature of the staff involved is a societal issue which needs to be dealt with to the core.

“So, the question we should be asking ourselves as a country is what is missing? I have been around for a while, and I know how banks used to function about 25 years ago and how things are happening now. It is a societal problem and we need to tackle it from the root. If this generation is lost, we should inculcate the practice of patience and integrity at the primary and pre-school level.”
John Awuah

Banks face reputational risk

Bank of Ghana also uncovered that, even though the banking industry did not witness any losses from the correspondent banking fraud attempts, the report uncovered that some of the banks faced a reputational risk, especially the ones whose staff were found culpable in two of the three reported cases.

Meanwhile, BoG indicated that the “losses incurred as a result of fraud for 2020 stood at Gh¢25.40 million, as compared to an estimated loss of Gh¢33.44 million in 2019, representing a 24.0% decrease. Staff involvement in the commission of fraud also experienced a significant increase, especially the suppression of cash.”