Fidelity Bank Explains Why It Flagged Suspicious Transfer, Denies Bribery Allegations
- Fidelity Bank has responded to the bribery allegations from a customer, as published in a recent report
- The bank also explained why it flagged the customer's remittances as suspicious, and listed the steps it took to ensure compliance
- The statement noted that the bank may be taking legal steps over the actions which threatened its corporate reputation
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Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.
Fidelity Bank has finally released a statement explaining why it flagged an international money transfer and refused to release the funds to the customer.
The bank also spoke up on the claims that its staff at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) branch demanded a bribe to release the said funds.
The bank said, in a statement signed by Meksley Nwagboh, the Divisional Head, Brand and Communications, that the transaction raised red flags under its compliance protocols and was automatically flagged.
Source: UGC
A report claimed that the bank staff demanded a bribe from the customer, identified as Patrick Majekodunmi Benjamin, who came to the UNIBEN branch to claim his Remitly transfer.
The report from Sahara Reporters accused Fidelity Bank of deliberately withholding the funds without sufficient reasons, only for its staff to demand a bribe when the customer came on March 14, 2025, to claim the funds.
According to the report, there were discrepancies with the customer’s middle name, which was corrected, but only the first part of the funds was released. The operations manager was alleged to have made remarks that implied wanting some form of bribe before payment would be released.
Fidelity Bank explains why it flagged transactions
The bank statement released on Thursday described the reports as false, malicious, and grossly unprofessional.
In its account, Fidelity Bank explained that the initial release of funds was delayed due to the discrepancy in the name, but once that was resolved, the first tranche was released.
Only then did the bank realise that the remittance was split into seven parts, flagging compliance issues, PREMIUM TIMES reports.
The statement read;
“In compliance with the bank’s Remittance policy, multiple transactions (i.e. we noticed the transaction was split into seven parts) are required to be sent to the Compliance department for due diligence before payment can be made. This was communicated to the customer.”
The bank noted that the splitting of funds has been observed to be a common method used to evade regulatory threshold checks and scrutiny, hence the decision for further compliance checks.
Source: UGC
By the time the customer returned on Monday, 17 March, the compliance checks had not been completed because several other issues made the transactions suspicious.
It said;
"Our review showed that the transactions were suspicious.”
The bank noted that the volume of the funds, splitting of the transfers, the involvement of a third party said to be the recipient’s husband, and the beneficiary's inability to explain the purpose of the funds all made the transactions suspicious.
The bank also contacted the international money transfer operator, Remitly, which confirmed that it could neither reach the sender nor validate said relationship with the beneficiary.
“Remitly’s clear directive to the bank was to reject the transaction as they were unable to contact the sender, and the beneficiary could not validate her relationship with the sender.”
It stressed that the staff never requested or demanded a bribe, whether implicitly or explicitly and faulted Sahara Reporters for publishing such a story without any evidence.
Fidelity Bank to take legal action
Fidelity Bank added that the customer returned on Monday, March 24, 2025, to stage a demonstration at the UNIBEN branch.
In response, Fidelity Bank is now in consultations to seek legal remedies, and has forwarded the matter to law enforcement for further investigations.
The statement assured that Fidelity Bank would continue to maintain the highest ethical standards in its interactions with customers.
Fidelity Bank gets approval to raise capital
Shareholders of Fidelity Bank Plc recently approved the second phase of capital raising.
The development follows the successful completion of the initial stage of its capital-raising activities.
The bank's issued share capital increased from N26.7 billion to N36.7 billion as part of this development.
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Source: Legit.ng
