He urged customers to tread carefully in handling and releasing their financial information.
 

First Bank HoldCo Plc said it spent more than ₦15 billion to protect its systems against criminals between January and June.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of First Bank HoldCo Plc, Olusegun Alebiosu, said this in Abuja on Wednesday.

Mr Alebiosu, who spoke on the sidelines of a two-day National Seminar on Banking and Allied Matters for Judges, said the bank spent ₦3 billion in June to protect its systems.

He said the bank had the best cybersecurity framework in the country, hence the investment.

The CEO, who was speaking on the increasing number of attacks by cybercriminals, especially on banks’ systems, assured First Bank customers of the safety of their money.

Mr Alebiosu frowned at the rate at which some citizens were involved in cybercrimes, saying the country must move fast to curb their excesses.

He said, “No customer would lose their money in First Bank unjustly. If their money is missing from First Bank, First Bank will pay it back. Before I joined First Bank, I had an account with First Bank. One of the reasons why I had an account with First Bank was that I said to myself, if my money is missing, it is the only bank I know I will collect my money back without any excuses.’’

Reacting to some customers’ complaints on the delay by the bank to handle cases of fraudulent transactions, Mr Alebiosu said the bank must conduct investigations involving different stakeholders.

The CEO said the delay was caused by the collaboration between the stakeholders involving security agencies and banks where the money was transferred to determine the realities about the cases.

He urged customers to tread carefully in handling and releasing their financial information.

”Customers themselves, most times, also compromise their own security details; I have seen a lot of people that give their cards to somebody to help them withdraw money from their ATM. They compromised their password, so when something happens and you say, my money disappeared, you forget the day you gave your card to someone else and they can use that to transfer your money. Some people even compromise their own ID on the system carelessly; some give their Bank Verification Number (BVN) and they use it against them.

”Now, why does it take time for the bank to react? everything you give to the bank, the bank has to investigate it. The money might have gone to other banks, so you start tracking from other banks but sometimes customers are impatient,” he said.

On frauds allegedly perpetrated by staff, he said the bank had internal employee fraud software that monitors activities of employees on the system.

He added. “If you knew how many of our staff we sack on a monthly basis, you wouldn’t believe it. So if there are triggers, people will be involved. It is for us to run faster than them and see how we can help to stop these kinds of things in our system but wherever we see it, we deal with it decisively.”

He said that various stakeholders, including the banks, law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, had a role to play in curbing cybercrimes. 

(NAN)