Over 90% of banking fraud comes from employees - BOG

Dr Joe France, the Director of Financial Stability, Bank of Ghana has said that over 90 per cent of fraud related cases in the banking sector is associated with the employees.

According to him, their investigations showed that some of the banking staff masterminded most of these frauds and urged management of Banks to be wary of people they recruit and do proper checks before employing them.

Dr France said this in Accra at the launch of “EMP-Verify”, a GAVAC Business Solutions that detects the backgrounds of individuals to mitigate risks in organizations as well as the banking sector.

He said the financial sector thrives on trust and confidence, and that, it was imperative for financial institutions to do due diligence in recruiting staff for optimum performance.

Dr France said one case of fraud could dent the reputation of the bank, urging players in the sector to exhibit high sense of integrity in the discharge of their responsibilities.

He said on their part, the Bank of Ghana had put in place strong mechanisms to check the backgrounds of staff before engaging their services.

That, he explained, was necessary because the first sector handles funds of clients and it was prudent for the public to have confidence in fund managers and ensure that the funds are protected from any threats.

"You can have the best employees who are doing well, but if their integrity and trust is questionable, then it poses serious problems", he added.

He called for collaboration to flush out these risks through robust systems.

Mrs Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, the Director General, Criminal Investigation Department, said her outfit had digitised all convicted crimes from 1957 to date for easy references.

She said one of the challenges facing the department is the ability to put a credible evidence at the court since there were weak documentations.

"Truth is not evidence. You may be saying the truth, but if it is not backed with evidence, it becomes difficult for prosecution", she added.

She commended GAVAC Solutions for bringing on board a system to check background of potential staff before recruitment and urged organizations to take advantage of the system to protect and secure assets.

Mr Harry Baiden, the Founder of GAVAC Business Solutions said statistics revealed that 88 per cent of curriculum vitae's are falsified.

He said a comprehensive checks not only looks at criminal and educational records but the candidates conduct, social network and reputation, employment history and place of residence.

He explained that the EMP-Verify system help Human Resource partners and recruiters to make informed decisions, avoid negligent hiring, the negative impact and cost associated with it.