Follow SOPs to check frauds: Central Vigilance Commission to banks

New Delhi: Central vigilance commissioner K.V. Chowdary Tuesday laid emphasis on adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) by banks to check frauds.

Addressing an event in New Delhi, he said in the last two years or so banks had been in the news for wrong reasons. “Banks have lost a lot of money. When I say banks have lost the money that means the nation has lost a lot of money and public in turn has lost a lot of money. Banks have been in a bad light,” Chowdary said.

He said while some large frauds are very well-planned ones, the small ones were not that well-planned. “Some say automation is the best way to prevent a fraud. I think automation is the solution provided it is automated in the right sense. So bring a preventive mechanism. You need to be a thief. You need to know where the system can be manipulated,” Chowdary said, inaugurating a conference on financial frauds organised by Anti-Corruption Academy, a private organisation.

The need for preventive vigilance or what we call standard operating procedures is very important, he said, referring to frauds in banks. Chowdary said there was a need to skill accountants and other people associated with the banking sector to help them check frauds.

Various banks reported 4,851 cases of fraud involving about Rs23,902 crore during 2016-17, according to a reply given by the finance ministry in Parliament in July this year.