The Bank of Ghana has reported a sharp 33% increase in staff involvement in fraudulent activities across the banking and specialised deposit-taking sector for the year 2024.

According to its latest annual fraud report, 365 employees were implicated in various acts of financial misconduct—up from 274 recorded in 2023.

The report, which covers banks and specialised deposit-taking institutions (SDIs), attributes much of this rise to persistent internal lapses and oversight challenges.

Cash theft or suppression remained the predominant form of internal fraud, accounting for three-quarters of the incidents. Of the total implicated staff, 274 were found to be directly involved in the concealment or unlawful appropriation of cash.

Despite the seriousness of these offences, only 43% of those involved were dismissed. The Bank of Ghana notes that lengthy and often complex legal processes discourage many institutions from pursuing comprehensive disciplinary action.

“The Bank of Ghana expressed concern about the consistent and steady increase in regulated financial institutions’ staff involvement in fraudulent activities,” the report stated.

It further urged banks and SDIs to “tighten recruitment screening processes and ensure the diligent prosecution of offenders.”

Beyond employee misconduct, the report highlighted a broader trend of increasing fraud within the financial services sector.

A total of 16,733 fraud cases were recorded in 2024, marking a 5% rise from the previous year. While incidents within traditional banks showed a marginal decline, cases surged within the SDI and Payment Service Provider (PSP) segments.

Most concerning was the significant rise in the value at risk from forgery and document manipulation, which ballooned to GH¢53.5 million—almost eight times the GH¢6.9 million reported in 2023.

Losses due to identity theft also saw a staggering increase, rising nearly ninefold.

Despite the volume and scale of these fraudulent activities, only GH¢3 million of the estimated GH¢83 million at risk was successfully recovered, underscoring the sector’s ongoing challenges with enforcement and asset retrieval.

The report concludes with a call for the institutionalisation of a “zero tolerance” culture towards internal fraud and urges ongoing collaboration between financial institutions, regulators, and law enforcement to mitigate the growing threat of financial crime.