Millions lost to staff fraud in banks - BoG report

Staff-linked fraud continues to plague Ghana’s financial sector, with the Bank of Ghana’s 2025 Fraud Report revealing staggering losses.

The report shows that cash suppression was the dominant fraud type among staff, accounting for GH¢40.7 million in losses. A single outlier case worth GH¢36 million drove most of this figure.

In total, 219 staff members across banks and savings & loans institutions were implicated in fraud in 2025, a drop from 365 in 2024.

Yet, only 75 employees were dismissed, representing a 52% decline in sackings compared to the previous year.

Cash theft and cash suppression together made up 63% of all staff-related fraud cases. While just 22% of suppression cases occurred inside banks, they bore the brunt of the financial damage, accounting for 96% of the money lost.

Rural and Community Banks were hit hardest, recording 56 suppression cases, or 51% of all such incidents in the SDI sector.

Forgery and document manipulation also surged, particularly in savings institutions, where losses jumped to GH¢4.2 million in 2025 from just GH¢10,000 the year before. One institution alone reported GH¢4.1 million of that figure.

Overall, banks and SDIs managed to recover only GH¢3.7 million, a mere 5% of the GH¢68.2 million lost to fraud last year.

DR/SA

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