The Bank of Ghana (BoG) says it has tightened its supervisory and monitoring systems in the financial sector to reduce the alarming number of fraud cases.

This was after its latest annual Fraud Report showed that the number of staff involved in fraudulent activities in banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) rose from 188 in 2022 to 274 in 2023, representing an increase of 46 percent.

 In addition money lost through fraud cases increase by 7 percent to hit 88 million cedis in the same period under assessment.

Speaking to Joy Business, the Deputy Director of the Financial Stability Department at the BoG, Dr. John Dadzie disclosed that measures have been outlined to compel banks to submit a roadmap to curing the canker.

“The Bank of Ghana is concerned about fraud prevention across all banks. We do not differentiate between institutions with higher or lower fraud rates. Upon releasing our reports, we write to all banks to submit strategies outlining their plans to minimize fraud incidence and related losses”, he said.

Dr. Dadzie stated that the aim of the BoG is reduce fraud in the financial sector to the lowest level to discourage staff and the public from being enticed to engage in fraudulent acts.

He added that it is the wish of the bank to stop from fraudulent activities from occurring in the first place.

“Fraud is fraud and from the regulators point of view, we are looking at not having fraud situations at all. Even if a bank has one or two incidences of fraud, the impact could be very significant”, he pointed out.

Declining to mention specific names of banks involved, Dr. Dadzie said the mandate of the central bank is to put in measures that will prescribe punitive actions for anybody involved in fraud in the financial sector.

“The Bank of Ghana is very much concerned not just in terms of who has more or less. Fraudulent activities are unacceptable, and from a regulator point of view, we aim to eliminate such occurrences entirely. Even isolated incidents of fraud can have significant consequences for banks”.