BANKS, telecommunications companies and other financial service providers have been urged to strengthen collaboration to combat digital banking fraud and improve customer protection.
The call was made at the 15th Absa-UPSA Law School Quarterly Banking Roundtable, which brought together industry leaders and practitioners from banking, regulation, telecommunications, financial technology, law and academia to examine how responsibility for digital banking fraud should be shared across the financial services system.
Held at Absa Place in Accra, the roundtable was on the theme, “Financial Services Fraud and the Era of Telephony Banking: Who Bears Liability and Responsibility to Protect?”
The forum examined how the rapid expansion of mobile and digital financial services was changing fraud risks, customer protection requirements and the responsibilities of institutions involved in processing transactions.
Opening the discussion on behalf of the Managing Director of Absa Bank Ghana Ltd, the bank’s Chief Risk Officer, Kofi Agyarko-Kwarteng, said digital banking channels had improved access to financial services but had also created new opportunities for fraudsters.
“Today, a customer can open an account, make a payment or transfer money without entering a banking hall. That is progress, and we should not underestimate its value,” he said.
Participants examined fraud methods, including impersonation, phishing, SIM-related compromise, credential theft and social engineering. They also discussed whether a transaction should be considered genuinely authorised when a customer completes it after being manipulated by a fraudster.
Mr Agyarko-Kwarteng said the complexity of digital transactions made cooperation across the financial services system essential.
“A fraudulent transaction may begin with a telephone call. It may involve a compromised SIM card, pass through a banking channel and end in a mobile money wallet or another bank account. No single institution controls that entire chain. No single institution can protect it alone,” he said.
The discussions focused on the respective responsibilities of banks, regulators, telecommunications companies, mobile money operators, payment service providers and customers. Participants also considered how stronger security measures could be balanced against the speed and convenience customers expected from digital financial services.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Banks, John Awuah, called for closer coordination between banks and payment service providers to ensure that suspicious transactions were detected and stopped before losses occurred.
“As banks, we have to be upfront with payment service providers, and payment service providers have to be upfront with the banks. We need to work in the interest of the customer so that, even if fraudulent activity succeeds at one point in the chain, it can be detected and stopped at another,” he said.
In his closing remarks, the Dean of the UPSA Law School, Professor Ernest Kofi Abotsi, called for further exploration of how technology and coordinated reporting could strengthen fraud prevention.
“We should examine how artificial intelligence can be used to detect potentially fraudulent activity in advance, so that it can be flagged. We should also consider whether there can be a central point for reporting these incidents,” he said.
The roundtable is a thought-leadership partnership between Absa Bank Ghana Ltd and the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Law School. It was established to promote frank discussions on law, banking and policy and contribute to reforms aimed at building a safe, sound and inclusive banking sector in Ghana.
The platform brings together industry practitioners, regulators, academics and students to connect practical industry experience with legal, regulatory and academic perspectives.
BY TIMES REPORTER
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