Wema Bank loses N685.595m to fraudsters in 2023

Wema Bank in its full year 2023 financial result stated that it recorded fraud in its system to the tune of N1.136 billion, out of which N685.595 million was lost.

The bank claimed 97 per cent of the fraud cases were executed by outsiders, adding that the cases valued at N860.395 million occurred through operations and others and N595.017 million was lost in the process.

Internet fraud was worth N203.724 million and N90.017 million was ferried away by fraudsters. Fraudsters also attempted to steal N36.071 million via point-of-sale channels and N8.148 million through mobile banking but only succeeded in carting away N506, 000.

Scammers also attempted to steal N869,000 via automated teller machines and N27.39 million web frauds, but they were foiled.

Reacting to the high fraud rate recorded by the bank in 2023, Bolu Oyedeji, an analyst, noted that Wema Bank needs to do something urgently to forestall this magnitude of fraud and assure its depositors that their funds are safe.

“The bank must adopt sophisticated cybersecurity measures to mitigate current cyber threats, engage professionals and educate customers on ways to avoid falling prey to fraudulent actors,” he noted.

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Despite the fraud and security challenges, the bank during this period grew its revenue by 70.54 per cent to N226.91 billion on the back of interest income that went up by 71.83 per cent to N185.64 billion and fees and communications revenue that improved by 50.50 per cent to N24.96 billion.

The lender’s pre-tax profit rose by 195.6 per cent to N43.59 billion and post-tax profit leaped by 220.42 percent to N35.93 billion from N11.21 billion it recorded in 2022.

The bank also grew its total deposits by 59.6 per cent to N1,860.57 billion from N 1.17 trillion in the prior year, while loans to customers went up by 53.6 per cent to N801.10 billion in 2023.

However, its net trading income dipped by 79.45 per cent to N822.49 million from N4 billion in 2022, underpinned by the N1.15bn Treasury Bill loss it suffered in 2023.