Banks admit existence of individuals who connive with criminals
Bankers Association of Malawi (BAM), a grouping of the country’s 11 banks, has admitted the existence of individuals working in various banks who connive with criminals to steal huge sums of money from customers and the banks.
The admission comes at time a series of armed robbers have targeted banks, with millions of kwacha being stolen.
Last year alone, robbers hit Standard Bank in Mzuzu Branch, where they stole over K500 million (US$1 113 586), Standard Bank Dedza Branch, where they went away with K4 million (US$8 909) and FMB Bank Blantyre Head Office where they stole more than K90 million (US$200 445), killing a police officer on the scene.
Feeling concerned, BAM president Misheck Esau said they are working with the police to ensure that criminal elements are uprooted.
“As an association of banks, we are putting in place measures that will help us root out some criminal elements in the sector. We want to enhance sharing of information so that some people who were fired from one bank due to serious misconduct issues do not get employed in other banks.
“We are working hand in hand with the police so that we formalise this because in every society, including the banking sector, there are criminal elements,” he said.
Esau said BAM has formed a task force to oversee the sharing of information on employees, adding that insecurity is greatly affecting banks because they now have to spend a lot of money to ensure that the banks are secure.
“The cost of doing banking in the country is going up due to insecurity and we have to pass this cost to our customers. This is not healthy, but we have no option but to pass on the cost to our customers,” he said.
On long queues that are prevalent in most banks, Esau said the queues are a security concern, especially when the banks are full of people.
“Most banks are moving towards making sure that people do not stay long on queues because it becomes a security risk when one has stayed long in the bank,” said Esau.
National Police public relations officer Rhoda Manjolo recently asked commissionaires to be vigilant because some people go to banks just to observe how much one is withdrawing to steal from them.
“We want commissionaires to be able to ask any person loitering in banks for no apparent reason because sometimes these people connive with their friends using SMSs, [short message service] Facebook, Twitter or even WhatsApp,” she said.
On this, Esau agreed with Manjolo, saying commissionaires need to do more and be vigilant at all times.
He also asked the companies responsible for sending commissionaires to work in banks to choose honest and responsible people.
“The problem we have as banks is that we just hire the commissionaires and we cannot know the character of an individual just like that. Our plea goes to the companies that send us commissionaires to send us people with integrity and very responsible,” said Esau.
