World wide, monetary fraud poses a major menace to the steadiness and belief of the banking business. Monetary fraud in Nigeria’s banking business encompasses numerous illicit actions, together with embezzlement, cash laundering, id theft, insider buying and selling, and cyber fraud.
These fraudulent schemes erode the monetary stability of banks and undermine public confidence within the monetary system. Final yr, the Monetary Establishments Coaching Centre, a monetary analysis and advocacy organisation operated by the Central Financial institution of Nigeria, revealed that monetary establishments within the nation reported ₦159 billion ($201.5 million) misplaced to fraud circumstances since 2020.
Combating monetary fraud requires a multifaceted strategy that integrates superior applied sciences, strong threat administration methods, and forensic accounting methods, in response to Bisola-Magnificence Ayankoya, a Finance and Audit/Accounting skilled.
Learn additionally: Access Bank launches awareness campaign to combat e-banking fraud
Ayankoya, who has expertise within the delivery, maritime, IT, banking, and monetary companies industries, mentioned that to discover prevention, there’s a want to stress the pivotal function of Synthetic Intelligence (AI) pushed anti-fraud analytics and forensic accounting methodologies.
“In Nigeria, banks are more and more adopting AI-driven options to boost their fraud detection capabilities and mitigate dangers.”
Commenting on the challenges of Fraud Prevention and its dangers, Ayankoya, mentioned that given a fancy monetary sector, detecting and stopping monetary fraud is an ever-increasing concern for any firm.
“Particularly the banks and FINTECH firms, as hackers and criminals alike use codes to bypass the safety for his or her malicious functions and intent to trigger losses to firms and harmless prospects.
Learn additionally: Collaboration, key to fighting FinTech fraud – CEO VerifyMe Nigeria
“Due to this fact, I imagine, the synergy between AI-driven analytics by the use of anomaly fraud detection and forensic accounting methods is paramount for safeguarding belongings and company portfolios towards monetary fraud.
“By harnessing the ability of expertise and finance investigative prowess, we fortify our defenses, guaranteeing the integrity and trustworthiness of company organisations and monetary establishments,” she mentioned.
Bisola-Magnificence is a Senior Affiliate Member of the Affiliation of Enterprise Danger Administration Professionals (AERMP), a pupil Member of the Affiliation of Chartered Licensed Accountants (ACCA) UK, and a Skilled Member of the Fintech Affiliation of Nigeria (FINTECH NGR).
She added: “Efficient monetary fraud detection and prevention, coupled with strong threat administration practices, are the bedrock of stability and belief within the monetary sector, whether or not in Nigeria or Globally.
Learn additionally: Tech firm launches campaign to protect Nigerians against cyber fraud
“It isn’t nearly safeguarding belongings and stopping losses by way of the likes of frequent on-line fee fraud; it’s about defending prospects, preserving their confidence in all the monetary business, fostering financial stability, and staying one step forward of potential dangers that would contribute to monetary losses which might negatively have an effect on the Society at giant.”
Bisola-Magnificence is an alumnus of the College of Lagos, Nigeria. She can also be on an Glorious Advantage President Scholarship Award and an MBA Candidate at San Francisco Bay College, California to realize organisational administration values and management ethics for managerial roles in Finance, Administration Operations, Enterprise, and Monetary Analytics for Funding Banking.