The Kenya Commercial Bank has cracked a whip on 13 of its staff members who were accused of fraud in 2019 as lender tightens grip on staff conduct.
KCB said the number of staff fired in 2019 was slightly high than those fired in 2018 where 10 staff members were sent packing over fraud accusations.
The detection of the staff’s fraudulent acts was made possible by a mandatory check of operations the bank had put in place to minimize losses by identifying unusual behavior in the system. A committee is also put in place to discipline those who have been accused of fraud.
“We built in mandatory checks into our processes/operations as fraud prevention measures,” said the bank. “There is also a management level disciplinary committee, which decides on the consequences for cases depending on their severity.”
KCB said the number of staff being sent home has reduced significantly where it sacked 34 employees accused of fraud and professional negligence in 2017, 31 in 2016, 33 staff in 2015, and about 90 employees in 2014.
Most of the bankers sent home were accused of stealing money, conning customers, or going against the professional conduct stipulated by the Lender.
Fraud attempts have also declined rapidly with KCB saying 639 failed in 2019 as compared to 319 that were reported in 2018.
KCB Group is the biggest bank in Kenya in terms of assets and in the recent rankings by a South African firm, the lender emerged at position 92 in Africa.
KCB came in fourth after Safaricom which was ranked at position ten in Africa, Equity Bank at 82, and EABL at position 90. The four Kenyan firms in the top 100 are also the best in Kenya accounting for more than 80 percent of firms’ valuation at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). More Articles From This Author
