KCB staff fraud nearly triples as 894 cases reported

KCB Group #ticker:KCB says internal fraud attempts hit 894, nearly tripling from previous year’s 574 cases, pointing to the rising threat posed by staff on customer deposits.

This is according to the lender’s sustainability report covering events up to December last year showing that overall, KCB was faced with 1,213 attempts of fraud.

It however has not disclosed how many of these attempts were successful and how much money was lost, but notes that it sacked 10 employees last year over the same.

The spike in fraud cases came in the year that Kenya’s most profitable lender with Sh537 billion in deposits trained 4,500 employees in anti-money laundering and fraud.

“Internally, the Group has a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of corruption, bribery and unethical business practices. KCB requires all employees, as well as service providers, to adhere to the Group code of ethical conduct,” KCB states in the sustainability report.

Court cases show that last year August, four KCB employees were arrested over alleged theft of Sh72 million. Two workers were also arrested in Wundanyi over loss of Sh21 million. It was also the same year KCB lost over Sh52 million when thieves dug into the strong room of its Thika branch.

KCB says fraud, illicit money flows, money laundering and cyber security are a major challenge for financial institutions and that it follows a holistic approach in risk management and governance to combat these challenges. The latest disclosure means that KCB has sacked 128 employees in the last five years over internal fraud. In 2017, it had sacked 34.