When in Doubt!!! You Must Shout!!!

This is a real story happened in the early 2000’s

In a far-off district where the #financialsystem was still building and the #banking methods were still traditional. #amlkyc were still not so strong as today. It was those days when clearing transactions were performed in the clearing house, and the cheques were physically carried to the clearing house.

?Being a small district, the transaction mostly used to happen between known people and the branch staff especially Vinay, the head of operations, knew almost all of the customers as a family and understand their banking requirements and pattern.

Everyday it was like a regular routine for the bank staff, attend the customers, clear the funds transfer request, process the clearing house transactions and wind up their day. One Friday, Vinay- the head of operations went on leave for a personal emergency. He resumed back to office on Monday and continued his daily routine of operations.

During the evening hours when clearing house transactions are completed, and he was about to release the clearing credits to the customer account, and suddenly he noticed a #suspicoustranaction with an amount of cheque deposited into one of the customer’s accounts. ?A customer who is a regular clerk in a nationalized bank has deposited 50lakhs cheque in his account. This triggered suspicion to Vinay.

He tried contacting the customer immediately but customer was not reachable, so Vinay kept the amount in hold without crediting and released the other credits. The next day customer panicked and contacted the branch staff who directed him to Vinay. Customer claimed that it was his uncle’s money and he is applying for visa and hence showing funds in account.

This triggered more suspicion to Vinay,

Customer himself was a nationalized banker, then why dint he deposit the amount is his bank there?

Customer is not able to provide details of the Visa nor the uncle who lent him the amount.

?So Vinay asked the customer to comeback with substantial evidence to validate his claims. Once customer left, Vinay went to the nationalized bank where customer was working, there he has noticed that the other staff who were quite seniors are still learning to use the electronic method of banking, and the customer is the only person who is young and tech savvy. Vinay enquired with the bank staff and every one gave very good feedback on the customer and informed that they are not aware of any cheque and said it should be genuine or his personal transactions.

?In the meantime, customer called the contact center and raised a complaint that branch is not releasing his funds. Contact center escalated the grievance to regional leadership for resolution. Vinay still stood on his decision that he will not release the funds till he is satisfied with the source of funds.

The next day Vinay got an idea and went back to the nationalized bank and approached the branch head and asked him to confirm the Genuity of the cheque on bank letter head. The branch head realized the situation and checked the check details, it was then discovered that the cheque was never issued to anyone and that it is a loose cheque leaf which was used by them to address immediate cheque requirements for the customers. Then the manager confronted the customer, and a police complaint was filed, it was then the customer has confessed that he has used his login to enter the loose leaf into his account and approved it with his manager login, as he was the only tech savvy employee his manager trusted him and gave the logins to him for approving any transactions for urgent processing. The culprit took advantage of this and tried to swindle the amount of 50 lakhs from the Vostro account.

The police arrested the culprit and was presented in the court. The nationalized bank manager thanked Vinay for his attention to detail. Nextday newspapers praised Vinay for his presence of mind.? The culprit was sentenced to jail term for his #financialcrime.

This real-life saga underscores the importance of vigilance in financial transactions and the pivotal role of astute leaders like Vinay in safeguarding the integrity of the banking system. #FinancialCrime #Leadership #AntiMoneyLaundering #banking #fraud #kycaml

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