The Threat Linked To Increased Mobile Corporate Banking

On-the-go payments seem to be climbing the ranks among corporate priorities. New research from Kaspersky Lab and B2B International says corporates are increasingly using mobile devices for accounting and payments.

Reports on Thursday (Aug. 4) said more than 30 percent of companies across the world use a mobile device to either access business bank accounts or facilitate B2B transactions.

About half of top corporate executives put money into corporate accounts with a mobile device, reports added.

Other data suggests that these money managers and professionals are turning to mobile technology to operate. More than a quarter of SMEs and more than a third of larger enterprises said they conduct some kind of financial transaction over a mobile device.

Of course, the majority of these professionals are within their corporate’s financial departments — 63 percent, according to the research. But finance isn’t the only function using smartphones and tablets to do financial corporate business. More than half of top managers said they transact for their business via mobile device; even 8 percent of ordinary employees have said the same.

“The trend shows a continual increase in mobile banking usage by corporate banking clients,” said Ross Hogan, global head of fraud prevention at Kaspersky Lab. “This trend is certain to continue as corporate and consumer banking clients alike migrate to the convenience of mobile banking.”

According to Hogan, the trend also presents an opportunity — or a threat — to banks. The increasing use of mobile transactions for corporate funds heightens the risk of fraud, analysts said, and can be just as dangerous, if not more, than transactions made on a desktop device.

“This creates an operational imperative for banks to very carefully consider the security and fraud prevention approaches they need to take in order to adequately ensure secure mobile banking applications, protect confidential customer data and guard high-value corporate customer transactions,” continued Hogan. “All users of mobile banking services, corporate and consumer, must also be diligent about their own security and behavior, while also questioning their bank about the measures taken to ensure their safety.”