Access Bank partners Nigerian Police on fraud control

Access Bank plc in partnership with Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), Ikoyi, Lagos, has reiterated commitment in effective fraud investigation and control.

Speaking at a training organised by the bank for compliance officers and PSFU officers in Lagos, the chief compliance officer, Access Bank, Pattison Boleigha reassured the Police of the lender’s continued support for the police during its investigations.

Criminals have gone ahead of internal control officers and that it is only through effective collaboration with the police that their activities can be checked, he said, saying that Know YourCustomer (KYC) policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the foundation of banking that should be followed.

“KYC is the foundation of banking. You need to know who the customer is, before you will be able to meet his or her needs. Proper customer due diligence should come naturally in financial institutions. In Access Bank, KYC and extended due diligence processes, form a major cornerstone of our anti-money laundering and tracking financial terrorism programme,” he said.

Customers due diligence and knowing the beneficial owners of an account have been placed as a primary objective for every bank internal control system to achieve proper control within the system, he said.

The bank carries out a customer due diligence risk assessment to know the type of customers it wants to deal with and the right risk management system that would apply, he said, saying, “so, if we know that we don’t have the right risk management system to deal with a customer, we will not carry out transaction with such customer. This helps us to reduce the risk of KYC failure.”

The deputy commissioner of police at PSFU, Ikoyi, Zubairu Muazu said the training for its officers was part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) implemented by the lender, aside several support extended to the lender last year.

“Today’s training will enhance our job interface of preventing fraud and financial crimes. We believe that we need to come together and understand ourselves better to improve partnership between both parties,” he said.

Muazu said that effort of the police in fraud control is yielding positive results as fraud cases are declining. “Fraud cases are not rising. The cooperation between the police and the financial sector is getting better, and we are doing our best to reduce fraud in the system,” he said.