Aig-Imoukhuede’s Access Bank Battles Fraud Crisis, Records 5,981 Cases, Loses N1.23bn
Access Bank, a subsidiary of Access Holdings, lost N1.236 billion to fraud in 2025.
This was contained in the bank’s full-year 2025 results released a few days ago.
In the report, the financial giant, under the chairmanship of Aig-Imoukhuede, recorded 5,981 successful fraud incidents in 2025 alone, with N3.17 billion involved. However, the actual loss was N1.236 billion.
The single largest category was fraudulent account transfers, which alone accounted for N587.8 million in confirmed losses.
The most frequent fraud category was electronic and USSD fraud, with 5,931 successful cases recorded in 2025 alone. Actual losses from this category reached N465 million.
Compared to 2024, the bank recorded a reduction in fraud incidents and losses. In 2024, the bank recorded 11,410 incidents and lost N1.69 billion.
However, the frequency and actual customers’ money lost to fraud in 2025 is still on the high side, causing significant panic among customers of the bank.
The Group delivered a resilient performance during the year, navigating a transitional operating environment while demonstrating the strength of its franchise and the robustness of the governance structures it has built over time. Profit before tax crossed the ₦1 trillion mark for the first time, rising to ₦1.01 trillion, a 16.2 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
This milestone underscores the Group’s steady progression toward becoming a high-performing and resilient financial institution. Net interest income rose to ₦1.36 trillion, while net fees and commission income recorded a particularly strong growth of 40.9 per cent to ₦585.1 billion, reflecting increasing diversification in revenue streams. Overall operating income after impairment grew by 23.9 per cent to ₦3.17 trillion.
At the same time, the Group improved its cost discipline, with its cost-to-income ratio declining to 51.7 per cent from 56.7 per cent in 2024. Returns also remained solid, with return on average equity at 18.4 per cent and return on average assets at 1.6 per cent, reinforcing the quality of earnings delivered during the year.
When we reached out to the bank through its spokesperson, Mr Kunle Aderinokun, regarding plans to further reduce fraud operations via mail and phone, but hasn’t responded at the time of filing this report.
(C) Trixxng
