Study: Growing numbers of consumers shun online banking

The global RSA Consumer Online Fraud survey, found that 52 percent of account holders do not carry out transactions on the net because of concerns over potential internet fraud and identity theft.

The study also shows that four out of five users are now likely to ignore emails from their bank, as a result of phishing scams.



The survey, which sought the views of 1700 people from eight countries, including the UK, US, Germany, France and Spain, shows that 91 percent of respondents claim they are willing to use stronger authentication, beyond the standard username and password, if their bank were to offer it.



Nearly three-quarters of people surveyed said that they would like their financial institution to use risk-based authentication. More than half of all account holders said that they would also consider using a personalised image to authenticate their online banking.



The study also found that 82 percent of customers would like their financial organisation to monitor online banking sessions for signs of irregular, and potentially criminal, activity. UK respondents came out top on this issue, with 93 percent claiming they would like their internet banking monitored.

Furthermore, more than half of all people surveyed said that their bank should contact them if any suspicious behaviour was detected online.



“2006 was an eventful year for financial institutions in terms of ramping up their online banking security,” said Christopher Young, vice president and general manager, consumer solutions at RSA.



“The consensus used to be that security is something that should be handled quietly – and that consumers trust their bank to keep their information and assets safe. However, as awareness of identity theft and online fraud grows, people want to feel reassured that they are in fact protected.”



However, the onus is on the financial organisation to protect the consumer from fraud, according to Andrew Moloney director of financial services marketing, EMEA at RSA.

“In the UK, the banks still have some way to go in protecting their customers against fraud,” he said. “But, they are starting to make progress by implementing a layered security strategy.”

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