Financing Fraud: Namibia Loses N$26.3 Million as Fraud Cases Surge to 357 in 2023

Overview of Fraud Cases in Namibia’s Financial Sector (2023)

Namibia’s financial sector faced a surge of fraud cases in 2023. During the presentation of the Bank of Namibia’s annual results, Deputy Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Maureen Hinda-Mbuende disclosed:

Total reported incidents: 357
Total losses: N$26.3 million

Concerns around Fraudulent Activities

Hinda-Mbuende expressed her growing concern about the increasing number of fraud cases and their financial impact:

- **Forms of fraud**
    * ATM fraud
    * Electronic fund transfers
    * Credit and debit card fraud
    * Mobile application fraud
    * Theft of cash
- **Total worth of fraudulent activities**: N$27.2 million

Recovered Amounts and Financial Protection

Despite recovering N$4.8 million, there is a question mark regarding financial protection for individuals who have suffered losses due to these fraudulent activities. It is worth exploring relief measures or strategies.

Illicit Financial Flows and Cybersecurity

In light of the concern around fraud, Hinda-Mbuende highlighted the concerning trend regarding illicit financial flows and urged a call for united efforts to curtail these and secure the financial system against cyberattacks.

- **Illicit financial flows statistics**
    * Inward: N$19.6 billion
    * Outward: $4.7 billion (between 2018 and 2020)

Banking Sector’s Resilience and Challenges Ahead

In the face of economic growth concerns, the banking sector showed resilience with an income of N$12.8 billion in combination with a net income after tax that surged by 24.5% to N$3.7 billion.

- **Banking sector risks**
    * Climate change
    * Greylisting
    * Cybersecurity threats

Mortgage Risk and Non-performing Loans

Hinda-Mbuende also warned against further interest rate increases and emphasized that Namibian banks are heavily exposed to mortgage risk since mortgages amount to over 50% of commercial banks’ loans.

- **Credit risk**
    * Significant financial risk factor
- **Non-performing loans**
    * N$456 million increase to N$6.5 billion
    * Mortgage loan category represents over half of this increase

Stay updated on Namibia’s financial sector and its development. Subscribe to The Namibian for reliable and in-depth journalism.