Skip to main content
Log in

A structured review and theme analysis of financial frauds in the banking industry

  • Published:
Asian Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Organizations of all types are vulnerable to frauds. Banks contribute to a significant extent in a country’s economic development by generating a large part of revenue in the service sector. Deterrence of fraud is impossible without understanding it. The present study attempts to extract themes by highlighting the major areas of the bank fraud literature within a specific time frame of 2000–2019 and finding the research gaps citing the future scope for research. Post the review of existing literature, using thematic analysis, two major themes were observed by the author, namely, “regulatory and compliance”–based studies and studies related to the “socio psychological” aspect of the literature. An examination of themes indicated that the popularity of the research areas shifted from accounting frauds or balance sheet frauds in early 2000s to areas such as cyber frauds and identity theft at the later decade. The present study paves way forward for future research on the bank customer’s vigilance, experiences and perspectives on frauds. Other significant areas of research include coping mechanisms with the various challenges faced by banks in marketing themselves after any major fraud occurrence.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alleyne, P., Persaud, N., Alleyne, P., Greenidge, D., & Sealy, P. (2010). Perceived effectiveness of fraud detection audit procedures in a stock and warehousing cycle: additional evidence from Barbados. Managerial Auditing Journal, 25(6), 553–568.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anand, V., Dacin, M. T., & Murphy, P. R. (2015). The continued need for diversity in fraud research. Journal of Business Ethics, 131(4), 751–755.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arhin, S. (2019). The impact of fraud on the financial performance of mobile payment (telecom) companies in Ghana. International Journal of Research Publications, 22(1), 18–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aris, N., Othman, R., Ali, R., & Rahman, Z. (2013). Islamic banking products: regulations, issues and challenges. Journal of Applied Business Research, 29(4), 1145–1156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baz, R., Samsudin, R. S., Che-ahmad, A. B., & Johnson, O. M. (2016). Capability component of fraud and fraud prevention in the Saudi Arabian banking sector. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 6, 68–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhasin, M. L. (2015). An empirical study of frauds in the banks. European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 4(7).

  • Bhasin, M. (2016). Frauds in the banking sector: experience of a developing country. Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, 3, 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boateng, R., Longe, O. B., Mbarika, V., Avevor, I., & Isabalija, S. R. (2010). Cyber crime and criminality in Ghana: Its forms and implications. AMCIS, 507.

  • Bossard, K., & Blum, S. (2004). Reading the red flags of fraud. Pennsylvania CPA Journal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ciobu, S., & Timuş-Iordachi, V. (2019). Role of the central banks in prevention and management of bank frauds. Journal of Social Science, 3(2), 63–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J., Ding, Y., Lesage, C., & Stolowy, H. (2012). Corporate fraud and managers’ behavior: evidence from the press, Entrepreneurship, governance and ethics (pp. 271–315). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corritore, C. L., Kracher, B., & Wiedenbeck, S. (2003). On-line trust: concepts, evolving themes, a model. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 58(6), 737–758.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, A., & Wood, T. (2014). Corporate fraud. Journal of Management, 12–15.

  • Dantas, J. A., Costa, F. M. D., Niyama, J. K., & Medeiros, O. R. D. (2014). Audit regulation in banking systems: analysis of the international context and determining factors. Revista Contabilidade & Finanças, 25(64), 07–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Desai, A. (2015). Scanning the HIM environment: AHIMA’s 2015 report offers insight on emerging industry trends and challenges. Journal of AHIMA, 86(5), 38–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganesh, A., & Raghurama, A. (2008). Status of training evaluation in commercial bank-a case study. Journal of Social Sciences and Management Sciences, 37(2), 137–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gary, P., Poh Sun, S., Themin, S., & Evelyn Hui Ting, G. (2011). Fraud: a review and research agenda. Accountancy Business and the Public Interest, 10, 138–178.

  • Gee, J., & Button, M. (2019). The financial cost of fraud 2019: the latest data from around the world.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh, S., & Bagheri, M. (2006). The Ketan Parekh fraud and supervisory lapses of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI): a case study. Journal of Financial Crime, 40(2).

  • Goel, S., & Gangolly, J. (2011). Beyond the numbers: mining the annual reports for hidden cues indicative of financial statement fraud. Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, 176, 161–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, P. K., & Gupta, S. (2015). Corporate frauds in India: perceptions and emerging issues. Journal of Financial Crime, 22(1), 79–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harjoto, M. A. (2017). Corporate social responsibility and corporate fraud. Social Responsibility Journal, 13(4), 762–779.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilliard, T., & Neidermeyer, P. E. (2018). The gendering of fraud: an international investigation. Journal of Financial Crime, 25(3), 811–837.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann, A. O. I., & Bimbrich, C. (2012). The impact of fraud prevention on bank customer relationship: an empirical investigation in retail banking. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 30(5), 390–407.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, K., Holland, D. V., Albrecht, C., & Woolstenhulme, D. R. (2010). Fraud isn’t just for big business: understanding the drivers, consequences, and prevention of fraud in small business. Journal of International Management Studies, 5(1), 160–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaveri, V. S. (2014). Bank frauds in India: emerging challenges. Journal of Commerce and Management Thought, 5(1), 14–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kazemian, S., Said, J., Nia, E. H., & Vakilifard, H. (2019). Examining fraud risk factors on asset misappropriation: evidence from the Iranian banking industry. Journal of Financial Crime, 25(4).

  • Khanna, A., & Arora, B. (2009). A study to investigate the reasons for bank frauds and the implementation of preventive security controls in Indian banking industry. International Journal of Business Science & Applied Management, 4(3), 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, T. B., Nuxoll, D., & Yeager, T. J. (2005). Are the causes of bank distress changing? Can researchers keep up? FRB of St. Louis Supervisory Policy Analysis Working Paper, 2004–2007.

  • Kitchenham, B. (2004). Procedures for performing systematic reviews. Keele, UK, Keele University, 33, 1–26.

  • Kranacher, M. J., & Riley, R. (2019). Forensic accounting and fraud examination. John Wiley & Sons.

  • Livshits, I., MacGee, J., & Tertilt, M. (2015). The democratization of credit and the rise in consumer bankruptcies. University of Mannheim and CEPR tertilt.vwl.uni-mannheim.de.

  • Lokare, S. M. (2014), Re-emerging stress in the asset quality of emerging markets: macro-financial linkages, RBI Working Papers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackevičius, J., & Giriunas, L. (2013). Transformational research of the fraud triangle. Ekonomika, 92(4), 150–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magro, C. B. D., & Cunha, P. R. D. (2016). Red flags in detecting credit cooperative fraud: the perceptions of internal auditors. RevistaBrasileira de Gestão de Negócios, 19(65), 469–491.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malhotra, A. K. (2013). Earnings management practices in Indian companies: a cross-sectional analysis. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 12(6), 295–305.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, N. R. (2018). A theory of consumer fraud in market economies, doctoral dissertation. University of Missouri--Kansas City.

  • McCusker, R. (2005). Underground banking: legitimate remittance network or money laundering system? Trends & Issues in Crime & Criminal Justice, 300.

  • Miethe, T. (2019). Whistleblowing at work: tough choices in exposing fraud, waste, and abuse on the job. Routledge.

  • Milan, R. (2018). Financial frauds in India. ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 8(11), 276–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moyes, G. D. (2007). The differences in perceived level of fraud-detecting effectiveness of SAS no. 99 red flags between external and internal auditors. Journal of Business and Economics Research, 5(6).

  • Moyes, G. D., Anandarajan, A., & Arnold, A. G. (2019). Fraud-detecting effectiveness of management and employee red flags as perceived by three different groups of professionals. Journal of Business and Accounting, 133.

  • Nabhan, R. A. L., & Hindi, N. M. (2009). Bank fraud: perception of bankers in the state of Qatar. Academy of Banking Studies Journal, 8.

  • OGW, G. M., Kiragu, D. N. U., &Riro, G. K. (2019). Effect of financial misstatement and corruption on fraud risk among state corporations in Mombasa county in Kenya.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omar, N., Johari, Z., & Hassan, S. (2015). Corporate culture and the occurrence of financial statement fraud: a review of literature. Elsevier, 22, 367–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prawitt, D. F., Smith, J. L., & Wood, D. A. (2008). Internal audit quality and earnings management. The Accounting Review, 84(4), 1255–1280.

    Google Scholar 

  • PwC, R. (2014). Global economic crime survey 2014. Raport PwC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahman, M. M., & Saha, A. R. (2019). A comparative study and performance analysis of ATM card fraud detection techniques. Journal of Information Security, 10(03), 188–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raju, Y. B. (2014), “Healthy banks under healthy regulation” annual day lecture of the competition Commission of India on May 20, 2014 at New Delhi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramamoorti, S., Morrison III, D. E., Koletar, J. W., & Pope, K. R. (2014). ABC’s of behavioral forensics: applying psychology to financial fraud prevention and detection. John Wiley & Sons.

  • Reurink, A. (2018). Financial fraud: a literature review. Journal of Economic Surveys, 32(5), 1292–1325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ribstein, L. E. (2002). Market vs. regulatory responses to corporate fraud: a critique of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. J. Corp. L., 28, 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roden, et al. (2016). The fraud triangle as a predictor of corporate fraud. Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, 20(1).

  • Rossouw, G. J. (2000). Defining and understanding fraud. Nairobi Law Monthly, 78, 22–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandhu, N. (2016). Behavioural red flags of fraud—a qualitative assessment. Journal of Human Values, 22(3), 221–237.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiehll, E., Borba, J. A., & Murcia, F. D. R. (2007). Financial accounting: an epistemological research note. Revista Contabilidade & Finanças, 18(45), 83–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, et al. (2016). Frauds in the Indian Banking Industry. Journal of Banking, 19(1).

  • Soltani, B. (2013). The anatomy of corporate fraud: a comparative analysis of high profile American and European corporate scandals. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(2), 251–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Song, Y. S., Lew, C., Song, A., & Song, V. (2018). U.S. Patent No. 9,886,693. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • Spicer, R. (2016). Explanatory case study on factors that contribute to the Commission of Financial Fraud. Northcentral University.

  • Steffensmeier, D. J., Schwartz, J., & Roche, M. (2013). Gender and twenty-first-century corporate crime: female involvement and the gender gap in Enron-era corporate frauds. American Sociological Review, 78(3), 448–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strawhacker, J. C. (2016). Analysis of factors influencing corporate ethics and anti-fraud programs. Utica College: Doctoral dissertation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Subbarao, D. (2009). Banking structure in India: looking ahead by looking back. Population, 5(46,550), 47–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swamy, M. R. (2011). Financial management analysis of money laundering, corruption and unethical business practices: case studies of India: Nigeria and Russia. Journal of Financial Management & Analysis, 24(1).

  • Thomas, J.& Harden, A (2008). Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC Medical Research Methodology 8, 45. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-8-45.

  • Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Behavioral ethics in organizations: a review. Journal of Management, 32(6), 951–990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Umphress, E. E., Bingham, J. B., & Mitchell, M. S. (2010). Unethical behavior in the name of the company: the moderating effect of organizational identification and positive reciprocity beliefs on unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(4), 769–780.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uzun, H., Szewczyk, S. H., & Varma, R. (2004). Board composition and corporate fraud. Financial Analysts Journal, 60(3), 33–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yallapragada, R. R., Roe, C. W., & Toma, A. G. (2012). Accounting fraud, and white-collar crimes in the United States. Journal of Business Case Studies, 8(2), 187–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamamura, M., Nishida, M., &Kawamorita, K. (2019). U.S. Patent No. 10,469,531. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • Yang, W., Moyes, G. D., Hamedian, H., & Rahdarian, A. (2009). Professional demographic factors that influence Iranian auditors perceptions of the fraud-detecting effectiveness of red flags. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 9(1).

  • Yusof, N. A. M., & Lai, M. L. (2014). An integrative model in predicting corporate tax fraud. Journal of Financial Crime, 8(2).

  • Zhou, W., & Kapoor, G. (2011). Detecting evolutionary financial statement fraud. Journal of Decision Support Systems, 50(3), 570–575.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zoubi, T. A., & Al-Khazali, O. (2007). Empirical testing of the loss provisions of banks in the GCC region. Journal of Managerial Finance, 33(7), 500–511.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pallavi Sood.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sood, P., Bhushan, P. A structured review and theme analysis of financial frauds in the banking industry. Asian J Bus Ethics 9, 305–321 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-020-00111-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-020-00111-w

Keywords

Navigation