ATM frauds down by 99% —NeFF •Xmas eve stock value depletes by 0.21%

THE Nigeria electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) has said cases of frauds in Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) have reduced by 99 per cent.
Chairman of NeFF, Mr Emman Obaigbona, who gave this disclosure at a public forum in Lagos recently, said with the adoption of EMV technology, chip and pin cards had reduced ATMs fraud drastically, stating, however, that frauds had migrated to other channels, particularly “card not present” transactions.
Obaigbona, who is a deputy director, Banking and Payment System at Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said the need for a body with a holistic approach to combating all sorts of e-payments frauds, necessitated the establishment of the Nigeria e-Fraud Forum.
According to him, the forum is tasked with formulating cohesive and effective fraud risk management practices, through information and knowledge sharing with key industry stakeholders with the overall aim of tackling e-fraud in the financial sector.
He submitted that e-fraud had increased significantly since banks were migrating towards electronic payments, adding that e-fraud could not be eliminated and had no “one-time” solution,  but must be managed continuously and proactively.
Obaigbona observed that all stakeholders must be adequately informed and prepared to tackle fraud risks, stating that the system was only as good as the weakest link.
He further stated that NeFF was set to release and implement the Industry Card Dispute Arbitration Framework as a guide to resolving potential conflicts through an arbitration panel which would be a neutral and independent third party to the transaction, adding that they would also collaborate with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in the implementation of the industry fraud monitoring tool.
“The fraud monitoring tool will monitor all payment transactions in the country; generate alerts for banks and networks; notify cardholders and merchants on behalf of the banks (optional) and establish and monitor reactions upon alarms triggered by the system,” he said.
He stated that they would continue to engage the law makers, law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, adding that they are also set to collaborate with the Office of the National Security Adviser and the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) to check e-frauds in the financial sector.
Meanwhile, WEAK transaction at the eve of Christmas at the resumption of equity trading on Monday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), resulted in the depletion of market capitalisation and the All-Share Index by 0.21 per cent.
Specifically, market capitalisation fell by N18 billion while the All-Share Index went down by 55.4 basis points to close trading in the day at N8.737 trillion and 27,346.66.
Investment experts attributed the lull in share transaction to the yuletide season, wherein the majority of investors engage more in trading off their holdings for profit-taking rather purchase of shares.
The market had, last Friday, recorded market capitalisation of N8.755 trillion and All-Share Index of 27,402.06 and a volume trade of 217.8million worth N2.44 billion swapped in 3,710 deals, as against Monday’s volume of 116.1 million valued at N1.2billion done through 2,006 deals.
Ikeja Hotel, Livestock Field, Fidson Healthcare, John Holt and Guaranty Trust depreciated in value by 5.00, 4.86, 4.76, 4.76 and 4.76 per cent to close the day at N0.76, N1.37, N1.00, N3.40 and N22.25 respectively.
Conversely, Forte Oil, NPF, RT Briscoe, Japaul Oil and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria appreciated marginally by 4.90, 4.85, 3.73, 3.57 and 3.26 per cent to close trading in the day at N8.13, N1.08, N1.39, N0.58 and N0.95 respectively.
 As usual, the financial services sector led the market transaction volume in the day with 45.6 million units valued at N483.1 million exchanged in 748 deals as against 111.2 million units valued at N950 million exchanged in 1,682 deals recorded in previous session.
Transaction volume on the exchange moved down by -46.7 per cent to close at 116.1 million units exchanged in 2,006 deals as against a rise recorded in the previous trading day.

Tribune