The Bank of Jamaica says it is concerned about reports of alleged fraud involving financial institutions and their potential to negatively affect confidence in Jamaica’s financial system.

The central bank is assuring that its supervised deposit-taking institutions –

Commercial banks, building societies and the sole merchant bank in Jamaica, remain adequately capitalised and liquid, and that all deposits in these institutions remain safe and secure.

The BOJ says its ongoing regulatory oversight remains rigorous in relation to financial institutions it supervises namely: Bank of Nova Scotia , Citibank, First Caribbean International Bank , First Global , JMMB , JN Bank, National Commercial Bank, Sagicor , Scotia Jamaica Building Society, Victoria Mutual Building Society, and Cornerstone Trust & Merchant Bank Limited.

These institutions are required by law to have all their assets and liabilities recorded on balance sheet.

The central bank says its working with these supervised institutions to continuously upgrade and strengthen their internal controls, including ensuring fraud prevention and early detection systems including through the deployment of advanced, technological reporting and analytic tools at globally accepted levels.

The central bank notes that in the recent case of alleged fraud at a commercial bank, the stringent internal controls insisted on by BOJ assisted in the early detection of irregular transactions and ensured that the risk was kept to a minimal level relative to the capitalisation of the institution.

The BOJ adds that it continues to monitor the developments in the financial sector closely to ensure the soundness and stability of the financial system.

The central bank says the basis of a strong and resilient financial system is the confidence clients have in knowing that their funds are safe and secure and can be accessed in a timely manner.

The BOJ states that it continues to work with all stakeholders to ensure that this confidence is maintained.