Anxious depositors and stakeholders of Wema Bank Plc, expressed worries over the safety of their deposits and the state of the bank following the huge fraud cases that characterised the 2023 financial year amounting to N1.136 billion in the bank
Recall that embattled bank had released its financial statement for the year 2023, which revealed that the bank there was fraud running into N1.136 billion within its system.
This revelation has created fears and worries among depositors, stakeholders, the public and financial experts.
The disclosure indicates weaknesses in the bank’s security system.
Wema’s audited financial statement for 2023 revealed a total of 1,195 fraud cases amounting to N1.136 billion, with losses amounting to N685.595 million.
The bank’s statement also reported that 97 per cent of the fraud cases were carried out by external parties, with N860.395 million attributed to operational fraud and N595.017 million lost in the process.
Internet fraud, the statement reports accounted for N203.724 million, while N90.017 million was siphoned by fraudsters.
Attempts to steal N36.071 million through Point-of-Sale(POS) channels and N8.148 million via mobile banking were made, resulting in a loss of N506,000.
The bank added that scammers tried to steal N869,000 through ATMs and N27.39 million through web fraud, but they were not successful.
Despite the various fraud involving millions of naira, the management of the bank , however, said that there was no fraud involving significant individuals in the bank’s internal control system.
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN)had fined Wema Bank N2 million for the cyber security framework violation, N17.450 million for allegedly contravening the CBN circular on KYC, and N20.00 million .
Besides, the bank had also been penalized and sanctioned in the 2023 financial year for various violations, including contravention of cyber security framework law, late rendition of returns, and non-compliance with the CBN’s know your customer (KYC) requirements. These penalties amounted to a total of N61.350 million.
However, despite some hiccups in the 2023 financial year, the bank was able to increase its revenue profile by 70.54 per cent to N226.91 billion, driven by a 71.83 per cent rise in interest income to N185.64 billion and a 50.50 per cent improvement in fees and communications revenue to N24.96 billion.
Significantly, the bank’s post-tax profit rose by 220.42 per cent to N35.93 billion as against the N11.21 billion in 2022.
About The Author
