Succeeding with Report Support – a must for today’s Banking

(Is the majority of your bank investigators time spent in actually gathering facts and solving cases? Almost any fraud investigator can trace a bad check or investigate credit card fraud, but can they reach far beyond the traditional scope of fraud investigation by examining control weaknesses and emphasizing loss prevention. This innovative approach will quickly gain support of senior management by proving to be cost effective and deter crime, as an efficient fraud reporting system is utilized.)

 Someone once said, “the road to success is paved with reports”.  That old cliché certainly rings true, in today’s banking world. And, thanks to the now innovative statistical reporting systems, this process has been made a lot easier.

 So, why are reports that important? Simply put, if you as a banker don’t know what you are losing and when the losses are occurring, how can you prevent such loss? Therefore, the first phase of the reporting process must be the development of a statistical reporting system. And, in connection with this new reporting system, the bank must establish a “fraud investigation” policy.

 This policy must have the blessing of the bank’s legal staff, the audit staff and the branch banking executives. The policy should also cover the types of fraud to investigate along with the procedures to follow in conducting such investigations.

 The policy should emphasize using the criminal justice system rather than simply becoming an agent of the bank’s collection and recovery departments. This is very important, as word will surely and quickly get around, within the criminal ‘grapevine elements” that your bank will and does prosecute fraudulent criminal behavior.  

 Next, after the establishment of policy, a case filing system and a cross-index reference filing system should be developed. The object being to distinguish clearly and accurately the various types of cases investigated. This case numbering system should not only segregate the various fraud categories but also distinguish the geographic and demographic areas involved.

Here’s a simple but effective case numbering system.  The first numbering sequence should indicate the case year, the second numerical sequence should indicate the ongoing case number, the third numerical sequence should indicate the geographic area of the state and the final letter sequence should indicate the type case. For case 11-100-01-CK, 11 represents the year of the case, 100 is the ongoing case number, 01 represents the geographic area, and CK means it is a check case. In addition, the case jackets and cross-reference index cards could be color coded for quick, easy reference.

(Please note: a good computer word processing software package will do wonders for an otherwise novelist reporter.)

Once the case filing system is in place, the written report format may be developed. There again, keep this simple. You may choose to use four main reports, an investigator report, a supplementary report, a case status report, and an investigators informal notepad. Other miscellaneous reports, such as a suspect profile, photo lineup, and witness list, could be added as needed.

The case status report could contain a section designed to assist the branch banking system in identifying and tracking possible policy violations or weaknesses in control. However, this section should not be designed as a punishment but as an educational tool.

Investigators, receiving fraudulent information, from the branches in their jurisdictions, should first review the case facts, with the security department manager. If the case is denied, the denial facts should be noted on the case status report: to include a reason such as insufficient evidence or an insufficient reported loss amount. A copy of this status report should be sent to the reporting party. This additional feature will prove to be cost effective, as it will allow an investigator to separate the cases that apparently cannot be investigated and then concentrate on the workable ones.

A by-product, for the success of a fraud prevention program, is an in-house training program. The resident investigators can continuously update the branches on trends in the investigation industry and the latest criminal schemes. To include:

• verified trends- losses perpetrated against the bank
• calculated  trends- possible losses not yet realized

 One of the most important factors in any organization’s growth is proving its necessity and the worth of its staff. This can be accomplished by the unit’s monthly status report. This report should outline the investigators case categories: case activity, criminal justice activity: and loss, recovery, and prevention activity. A case worksheet should complement the status report, which gives a ready reference of all cases worked or pending.

An investigation unit will definitely forge ahead, by accurately reporting its worth. These criteria will turn an almost nonexistent fraud investigation function into one that is well recognized within the law enforcement and criminal justices circles, throughout the country. Yes, the road to success is truly paved with reports.