CONTENDING THE RATE OF FRAUD IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY

Banks are institutions known to operate on the center pin of public confidence.  Today that concept no longer holds as bankers themselves either initiate fraud or partakes deeply on fraudulent activities against their banks (employees). According to Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Annual Reports (2011) most banks were run a ground by a few greedy directors and officials who perpetuated frauds and all kinds of unethical practices against their institutions.  This is an aberration that continues to erode public confidence in banks. This scenand has contributed to the liquidation of many banks. Since it is observed that one cannot avoid considering the fact that the distress in the banking industry was occasioned by fraud, the need therefore arises to find out problems associated with fraud, it’s effect on the economy and how there problems are to tackled.
Though the banking industry is one of the most profitable institutions within the economy, higher performance could be attained in terms of their private returns and obligations to the society. This must be so if the banking industry is to perform a leading role on reactivating the economy. The suboptimal performance of the Banking Industry is due to problems.  Of these problems, the issue of fraud in the banking industry is one of the most intractable and involvemental.  The magnitude of this problem and it’s implications for the industry has inspired this research on “contending the rate of fraud in the Banking Industry”.
The primary objective of this research is to find practical means of minimizing the possible eliminating the incidence of fraud in our banks. To achieve this objective the following secondary objectives have been specified.
i.  To identify the cause (s) of fraud in banks
ii.  To identify the types of fraud perpetrated in banks
iii. To determine the effects of fraud on the business of banking
iv. To recommended measures for reducing the incidence of fraud in the banking industry.
v. To identify the means through which the recommended measures can effectively be implemented
vi. To know why bank personnel commit fraud .
Since fraud has given rise to failure in banking business, it is necessary that government, monetary authorities, economic policy makers and management should help in contending the rate of fraud on the banking industry.