Banking Industry Fraud Drops by 38% in Two Years  

By Peter Uzoho

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend disclosed that despite the increase in the value and volume of electronic payment transactions this year, there have been decline in fraud cases.

Specifically, the Deputy Governor, Operations, CBN, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, who revealed this, stated that the value of fraud cases reduced from N652.8 million as of the third quarter of 2015, to N406 million as of the third quarter of 2017.

Adelabu, made the disclosure in Lagos in his goodwill message at the 2017 end of the

year dinner of the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF). 

He noted that the collaborative efforts of members of the forum at reducing electronic payments fraud were being appreciated, just as he pledged the continuous support of the CBN.

He, however, urged NeFF members to seek ways of ensuring that they drastically reduce incidence of fraud in the industry.

While congratulating the management of NeFF for its achievements, he noted that since the Forum’s creation in 2011, the Payments System environment had evolved tremendously.

According to him, NeFF was

created when the industry was emerging from an era of magnetic stripe

challenges effectively truncated with migration to PIN and Chiptechnology for card issuance. This, he stated, ensured that that the

industry reduced ATM fraud to zero with the aid of this technology.

He said: “Since this feat, the industry has consistently beeninundated with other types of fraud, from Card Not Present fraud, to

insider abuses and phishing scams.

“In all these, the Forum has

responded not only proactively but also effectively in fashioning

strategies to combat these threats to our payment system.

Continuing, Adelabu put the present value of the country’s external reserves at a total of $39 billion.

He highlighted the price stability objectives of the central bank and success recorded, particularly on the exchange rate, interest rate

and inflation rate, saying that the central bank through its policies ensured that the naira appreciated from a record low level of N525 to the dollar, to about N360 to the dollar presently.

market price,

 

“We are also aware of the level of our foreign reserve about two years

ago, because one of our key mandates is to manage and preserve the

foreign reserve of the country.

“At a time, we got to $23 billion in our

reserve; that was in the middle of last year even up to October lastyear. Today, our reserve is at $39billion,” Adelabu said. 

He anticipated increased transactions in the

coming months following the full adoption of the cashless policywhich he said was given by the Committee of Governors recently.

Earlier in his welcome address, theNeFF Chairman and Director, Payment

System, CBN, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, said in its six years of existence, the

forum had embarked on several industry–defining initiatives.

“There can be no better evidence of this than the exponential growthwitnessed in the use of electronic channels in Nigeria. The year 2017

has also seen the Forum embarking on new initiatives, deepening

existing relationships and forging new ones,” Fatokun said.

He revealed that NeFF’s efforts in 2018 would be aimed at further securing banking channels, raising awareness on fraud mitigants to the

entire ecosystem and deepening its collaboration and partnership with

law enforcement and telecommunication stakeholders within and outside

Nigeria.