By Amina Faki
Last year, the National bank of Kenya incurred losses worth 300 million shillings to fraudster employees and cyber crime.
According to the lender, in its latest annual report, the operational losses including fraud losses were recorded at three percent to the total revenue made in 2016.
The bank has defined the operational risks as a potential loss resulting failed internal processes, people, and external events and systems.
NBK report says that the risks are inherent in the ICT systems used by the bank; people relied on to perform certain activities, processes being used and exposure to threats from the external environments where the Bank operates.
The bank didn’t reveal the exact amount lost to fraud and who and how many staff was implicated or even the action that was taken.
NBK has hired personnel and deployed technology to arrest fraud.
NBK holds a record among its peers, Barclays Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank Group as the only lenders publicly reveal banking fraud statistics.
According to a study by Deloitte, the most prevalent forms of financial crime reported in the country are cash theft, cheque fraud, plastic money scams and an electronic fund transfer fraud.
It’s clear that banks should be more vigilant of their employees and the internal and the external systems being used. The reshuffling of the employees and the system could work best in prevention fraud.