Bank Data Safety At Top Of Mind For Consumers

Regardless of technological innovations in the financial space, some human elements remain constant — like worries about banking security.

According to a new consumer survey from the financial technology solutions company Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) (conducted on behalf of Harris Poll), 80 percent of respondents across all demographics cited that their greatest concern regarding their bank is its ability to ensure the safety of their financial information.

The survey — which ran online from Aug. 7–11 of this year, polling close to 2,100 adults (ages 18 and older) in the United States — bore out that such concerns actually increase with income and education levels. Among adults with annual incomes of $100,000 or greater, 84 percent cited data safety as their primary banking concern, while that number was at 85 percent among college graduates.

“The survey results indicate that even ‘digital natives’ who commonly share their information freely are becoming increasingly aware of and focused on the protection of their own financial data,” said George McGourty, president of financial services for CSI, in a press release. “Because consumers are more in tune with the importance of data security than ever before, financial institutions must actively strive to provide customers with peace of mind through advanced security capabilities and protocols.”

“According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2015 ‘Cost of Data Breach Study,’ the average cost of a data breach to a company last year was $3.8 million, a 23 percent increase from 2013,” McGourty went on to state. “While companies have become smarter about adopting preventative measures to mitigate loss, the research suggests that the cost associated with repairing brand reputation and loss of customer loyalty is what does the most damage to the bottom line.”

The press release from CSI goes on to recommend a number of techniques that financial institutions can implement to increase security and reduce the risk of losing customers, including a proactive approach to changing security threats and developing both preventative and responsive plans of actions in the event of a data breach.

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