Worried about growing involvement of bank staff in frauds in the banking industry, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has enjoined Chief Executives of banks and auditors to ensure transparency in banking operations as the commission will, from September 1, hold banks liable where there are established cases of institutional complicity in fraud in the banking sector.
Accordingly, the anti-graft agency has urged Nigerian banks to investigate sources of income of their potential customers before opening accounts for them.
Abdulrasheed Bawa, EFCC Chairman, who gave the advice on Tuesday when the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria, (ACAEBIN), led by the Chairman, Yinka Tiamiyu paid him a courtesy visit at the Commission`s headquarters, Abuja, said it will no longer be business as usual as the commission will hold banks liable for fraudulent practices involving their customers.
“I will like to urge you to know your customers, know the kind of businesses they do before opening an account for them because some customers will open an account within a space of two months a huge sum of money is found in the account, So there is need for you to try and query these information including their linked accounts,” Bawa charged.
The EFCC boss implored the bank auditors to “take issues of transparency in banking operations seriously” to forestall such occurrences.
He however, pledged the commission’s willingness to partner the association in tackling financial crimes and related challenges in the banking sector.
Earlier, ACAEBIN Chair, Tiamiyu said they were at the Commission to seek improved partnership between it and banks in tacking economic and financial crimes.
He stated the commitment of banks as lead actors in the nation’s financial system to sanitising the system, noting that it was not in the interest of the organizations to incubate or suppress financial malfeasance.
Speaking in the same vein, Uduak Udoh, Vice Chairman of the Association said: “Some customers are conniving with bank staff to loot funds. We want you to look into that area, not only the banks as we are ready to give you all the cooperation you need; we want you to trust bank auditors with information sharing because we cannot support fraudulent staff as they are a threat to the organization.