RISE OF FINANCIAL CRIME IN MALAYSIA’S BANKING SECTOR: CRASH OF PANDEMIC COVID-19

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual discussion and analysis of the Covid-19 impact on financial crime in Malaysia’s banking sector. The analysis is conducted to make a comparison of the financial crime in the banking sector before and after the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. This paper contextualises the impact of Covid-19 on financial crime in the banking sector in Malaysia. Moreover, this paper explores different ways of conceptualizing the COVID-19 impacts in terms of financial crimes in Malaysia’s banking sector patterns based on the survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Global financial crimes have been made easier by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to PWC Malaysia's report on financial crime trends in Malaysia's banking sector, this study found an increasing trend in financial crime fraud, particularly cybercrime. This study implies that the banking sector must work together with the regulator to combat the risk in financial crimes. The sophisticated digitalization used in the banking sector must regularly monitor and keep up to date to minimise the occurrences of fraud, especially cybercrime.