Moruf Oseni’s Wema Bank In Soup As It Incurs N8bn In Court Cases, Loses N239m To Fraudsters

Wema Bank faced significant challenges with a staggering N8.067 billion in court cases as of September 2023, coupled with losses of N239.920 million due to fraud and burglary within the nine-month period. The recently released financial statement to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) unveils this grim scenario.

Iexclusivenews reports that despite a slight relief, as the litigation claims accounted for only 3.2 percent of the N8.331 billion reported in December 2022, the bank still grappled with substantial legal and financial setbacks.

In a more concerning aspect, the losses from fraud and burglary in the third quarter of 2023 marked a 73 percent decrease, revealing the bank’s struggle to combat these issues effectively.

Analysts attribute the reduction in losses to increased technology expenditure, which rose by 31 percent from N1.421 billion in September 2022 to N1.856 billion by September 2023. However, the overarching negative tone persists as Wema Bank contends with the aftermath of legal battles and financial losses.

“Investment in technology is critical for banks because they are targeted by fraudsters who have cliques all over the world. If you do not spend in technology, you will spend time in courts with depositors,” said a Lagos-based IT expert, Mr Tobe Iloani.

According to Punch Newspaper, eight Nigerian banks lost N1.9 billion to fraudsters in 2020 during the peak of Covid-19.

The cases ranged from impersonation, outright theft, and Automated Teller Machine fraud to Internet bank fraud and cheque theft.

Wema Bank Remains Silent

Wema Bank’s spokesperson, Ms Mabel Adeteye, did not respond to Economy Post‘s inquiries via WhatsApp messages seeking clarifications on the bank’s fraud issues before press time.