Why FIs Have Trouble Identifying Fraudulent Activity

It’s getting harder for financial institutions to distinguish between fraudulent activity and the activity performed by their legitimate customers.

According to research from Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, released on Tuesday (June 14), nearly 38 percent of financial organizations find it very difficult to tell if a customer’s account activity is fraudulent or not.

Kaspersky said the research shows that banks and financial organizations have a long way to go when it comes to managing online financial fraud.

“Considering the aggressive competition in today’s fierce financial services market and the extreme disruption from nontraditional providers, a trusted relationship between customers and their financial institutions is a decisive factor for the long-term prosperity of any company,” Ross Hogan, Kaspersky Lab global head of fraud prevention, said in a press release.

Approximately 50 percent of the financial services organizations surveyed believe that online financial fraud is on the rise. Just 57 percent claimed that they have put a dedicated anti-fraud security solution in place, and only 46 percent either have a partial solution implemented or nothing at all.

“The interdependence of the digital relationships between all financial services market players also means that, if any one organization in the value chain experiences a digital service issue, whether due to fraud, breach, cyberattack, etc., the damage can quickly spread to any of the other organizations,” Hogan added.

The research results underscore the fact that organizations operating in the electronic payments landscape with non-specialist solutions are more likely to experience false positives, which can eventually contribute to a loss of customers and decreased profits.