Wema Bank rallies EFCC, police to fight financial fraud

In an effort to stem the increasing threat to banking and financial services delivery, Wema Bank, one of Nigeria’s lenders, has partnered with anti-fraud agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the Nigeria Police, and KPMG, to share insights and raise awareness and to check the tides within the financial industry.

The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) recently reported that Nigerian banks lost N42.6 billion to fraud in Q2 2024. This was an 8,993 percent increase from Q1 2024 and a 637 percent rise from Q2 2023.

The Wema Bank event to commemorate International Fraud Awareness Week 2024, with the theme “Share a Story, stop a Scam”, held at the bank’s head office in Lagos.

International Fraud Awareness Week is a global celebration marked annually in the third week of November, to highlight the increasing threat that fraud poses on individual, business and societal levels, as well as encourage individuals and institutions to take proactive steps towards minimising the impact of fraud, through awareness creation, information sharing and education.

Wema Bank has over the years built a reputation for educating and empowering customers with the knowledge, information and insights needed to help them identify, mitigate and escalate fraud on various levels, further launching its anti-fraud campaign through which it has continued to spread awareness about fraud and taken action against fraudsters.

Speaking at the event, Moruf Oseni, managing director/CEO, Wema Bank, represented by Tunde Mabawonku, executive director, retail and digital business, emphasised the bank’s commitment to championing awareness and combatting fraud. According to him, “Fraud and scam are no longer news and with each day, fraudulent tactics continue to evolve.

“As an institution, we have a role to play and this is why we remain unrelenting in our fight against fraud. Awareness is key, so while we do the backend work of constantly innovating, running checks and advancing our security framework, we go a step further in ensuring that our customers are also equipped to, on their end, complement the work we do in terms of maintaining their financial security; and we do this through awareness, information and education.

“Our commitment to driving fraud awareness goes beyond International Fraud Awareness Week because the truth is, awareness is a lifelong journey. With the digital evolution of constant proliferation, fraudsters are getting more creative in their tactics and the onus is on every one of us, to keep spreading the word about rising fraudulent antics and how to handle them, to ensure that more people are aware and equipped to stay ahead of these fraudsters”.

Mabawonku said that the theme of the 2024 International Fraud Awareness Week, ‘Share a story, Stop a Scam’, highlighted the significance of awareness, information and education in combatting and mitigating fraud across the globe.

He added: “As a bank that prioritises the financial security of our customers, we have over the years undertaken the responsibility of not only keeping our security framework up-to-date, advanced and reinforced against fraud but also educating our customers, equipping them with the knowledge and resources they need to protect themselves from fraud on their end.

We launched an anti-fraud campaign with this very focus and this two-way approach to combatting fraud holds great potential as we continue to empower our customers and the general public to combat fraud, we take this moment to reiterate our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of information security and prioritising consumer protection as we continue to empower lives through innovation”, Mabawonku noted.

On his part, Femi Akinola, an assistant commissioner of police at the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police Force, encouraged victims of fraud to be willing to work with the police in providing the required information and documents to aid investigations.

Oguzi Moses, an assistant commander, at the EFCC, emphasised the importance of promoting a culture of compliance within institutions towards mitigating fraud. He Oguzi commended Wema Bank for being open to collaboration and its role in spreading anti-fraud awareness, expressing commitment to continuous collaboration with the bank.