Finance Zenith Bank lost N2.9 million to fraud and forgeries in 6 months

Nigerian tier-1 bank, Zenith Bank Plc, has recorded N2.9 million on fraud and forgeries related cases, Business Insider SSA analysis of the bank’s financial statement for half-year 2018 has shown.

The fraud and forgeries related cases are contained in the bank’s financial returns submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE.

For the 6 month period ended June 2018, the bank recorded 44 ATM/Electronic fraud, 9 fraud cases were perpetrated by the bank's staff, 8 impersonation account, 45, stolen and forged instrument, 2 internet banking fraud while others fraudulent activities account for 43.

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Out of the 161 fraud and forgeries returns, the bank lost the sum of N2.9 million compared to 10 million lost in the same period in 2017 from 139 cases.

Other key highlights from the bank's financial statement:

- Gross earnings declined by 15.3% to N322.2 billion as against N380.4 billion.

- Profit after tax rose to N81.7 billion in first half 2018 as against N75.3 billion recorded in 2017.

- Profit before tax rose from N92.2 billion to N107.4 billion.

The board of directors of the bank approved N9.42 billion to shareholders as interim dividend for the half-year ended June 30, 2018, compared to N7.5 billion declared in the same period of 2017.

The breakdown indicates a dividend per share of 30 kobos, 20% above 25 kobos paid as interim dividend for the first half of 2017.

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