The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has described as worrisome the level of bank fraud as recently reported by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (NDIC).

The National President of ASSBIFI, Mr Olusoji Salako, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the report indicated that the level of fraud in banks was high.

The NDIC’s annual report and statement of accounts released on Tuesday said that bankers committed fraud amounting to N17.97 billion in 2012.

“This development calls for concern from every stakeholder. We have the report, and we are considering the steps to take to prevent a reoccurrence in the future. In most cases, these bankers are mobilised by outsiders to commit fraud in the system. We are not going to sleep with this report; we will work on our members,” Salako said.

He said that the union would intensify education of its members on the dangers of allowing outsiders to use them for fraudulent purposes, noting that fraud in the banking industry escalated due to reckless deposit mobilisation, casualisation and outsourcing of workers.

“Casualisation and outsourcing are two key factors. If you employ a person on a casual basis, and the person has to handle a lot of cash, yet, he or she is being paid peanuts, there will be the temptation to steal. Also, in the last decade, aggressive marketing came in and people with questionable characters were employed in the industry to source for deposits. Our flanks have been opened by this practice, all safety measures thrown overboard, and all that the bank executives are concerned about is the amount of deposits brought in,” he said.

Salako said that the banking sector might continue to record leakages and fraud until the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and management of banks take steps to curtail it. He urged CBN and management of banks to de-emphasise deposit mobilisation and engagement of contract staff and casual workers.

Mr. Adekunle Adeosun, Executive Director (Commercial/Retail and Consumer Banking – South), Union Bank, noted that the initiative was part of efforts to make Union Bank a leading provider of innovative financial services in Nigeria and beyond, adding that the ‘.Union Bank’ branch was just one of the new ways in which the Bank was using technology to enhance its service delivery and experience for customers.