Analysis of fraud in Uganda’s financial institutions

Abstract

Fraud is one of the various problems of today’s business environment, rampant in almost every organization and sector worldwide but more rampant in financial institutions due to the money and near money instruments used in their operations (Adetiloy et al., 2016; Yusuf et al., 2016; Olatunji et al., 2014). Four Bulgarian detained suspects attempted to defraud Stanbic Bank Uganda. Three were detained and one was deported. The high incidences of frauds perpetrated against the commercial banks of Uganda have the effect of invading on the profits made (Uganda Police’s Annual Crime and Traffic/Road Safety Report 2013). The study explored fraud in Uganda’s financial institutions with the objectives of identifying the different types of fraud in financial institutions, examining the possible causes of fraud in financial institutions, evaluating the consequences of fraud in financial institutions and suggesting protective measures against fraud in financial institutions. It was conducted in Kampala, Uganda since all the 24 commercial banks have their headquarters located in this city, Bank of Uganda and Uganda Bankers Association and was conducted in July-October 2017 . The literature looked at the concept of Fraud, theories of fraud and commercial banks in Uganda and the different objectives. The research used descriptive cross-sectional survey design, qualitative and quantitative research methods, the target population for the research being the entire staff of the 24 licensed Commercial Banks in Uganda, Bank of Uganda and Uganda bankers Association. The researcher employed purposive and convenient sampling techniques with primary and the secondary data, using a self-administered questionnaire (put to reliability and validity tests) and an interview guide, with ethical considerations. 50 questionnaire respondents were sampled out of the population. Only one (1) experienced anti-fraud expert was interviewed as a representative of the entire financial institutions. There were a number of limitations of the study like banking employee time availability being limited. Major types of fraud were found to be asset manipulation for institutions and Corruption and bribery, possible causes of fraud being financial pressure (wanting to leave beyond own means); so many responsibilities, greed (get rich quickly) and so forth, consequences being loss of jobs, jail (civil or criminal and many more and a lot of recommendations, some of which were the need to focus on with different appropriate strategies for different banks, whistleblower systems strengthening, continuously training antifraud professionals, introduction and strengthening of chip and pin technology of card that cannot be schemed, and strengthening IT security by using optical fiber.