THE banking sector loses about R4-billion every year to fraud, a banking official told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday. Last year, the industry also lost about R1,1-billion to robbery, Banking Council of South Africa chief executive Bob Tucker told the safety and security committee in a briefing. This was despite a 22% cut in bank and cash-in-transit robberies from 465 in 1997 to 382 in 1998 after security was tightened, Tucker said. He estimated that 40% of commercial crime in South Africa is committed in the banking sector. In 1998, cheque fraud cost the industry R151-million.