Banks Fraud in Nigeria

Perhaps, no where are frauds more serious and more pronounced than in the banking sector of the economy. They are one of the biggest single causes of bank failure and distress in the Nigerian banking system. This study therefore sets out to find the common types of bank fraud that are frequently carried out in the banking system, the underlying causes, level of staff involvement, consequences and possible means of ameliorating the problem. A sample of 100 respondents taken in Benin City, capital of Edo State, Nigeria was studied by means of field survey tool of questionnaire and the response to rating scale questions were tested for significance using the "t-test". The analysis revealed that respondents did not view unofficial borrowing and foreign exchange malpractice as forms of bank fraud since they were common and an industry wide practice. It also revealed that there was an equal level of staff involvement in initiating and executing fraud, with the concealment of fraud coming last in their agenda. Also, among the factors hypothesized to encourage bank fraud; the major individual based factors were greed, infidelity and poverty, while organizational factors were inadequate staffing, poor internal controls, inadequate training and poor working conditions. Respondents also viewed greed, lack of personal ethics and weak corporate governance as managerial factors that help propagate frauds in banks. The unique contribution of this paper is its emphasis on building upon the methodology and findings of some previous studies in the area of bank fraud (in Nigeria), by conducting statistical test of significance which adds statistical validity and flavour to our