Awareness First, Transaction Next… The Verdict of FIS Global PACE Report

In this article today, I will discuss about the PACE report introduced by FIS Global. Before starting with the findings of report, let me tell you about the company FIS Global. FIS™ is the worldwide leader in Fintech software, services, and solutions. It is a Fortune 500 company and is a member of Standard & Poor's 500® Index. Headquarted in Jacksonville, USA, FIS serves more than 20,000 customers in more than 130 countries, with technology that drives billions of annual transactions that move more than $ 9 trillion worldwide. The company has over 47,000 employees worldwide, for more information about FIS, you can visit www.fisglobal.com.

Now coming to the point, I will discuss about the findings of “Pace Report launched on April 16, 2019”, which is based on a survey of more than 1050 banked Indian customers. It says, With Growing Digital Transactions, Financial Cybercrime and Identity Theft in India are Increasing.

Interesting Facts and Suggestions, According to my analysis of PACE Report:

Today banks are looking at more user friendly ways to interact with their customers than having them come to the branch. Mobile has become the default banking channel across all age groups as 41% of bank interactions are now performed via mobile device. Banks can use the data for customer’s advantage as Consumers want and need more than a digital-only experience from their banks.

Age group of 27 to 37 has been most impacted by financial fraud than other age groups. 96% of Indian consumers who have suffered financial fraud in the past year have switched to a mobile app and digital payments.

Today everything from cars to smart home devices has a large number of voice control commands and it is predicted to increase even more. So according to the report, Cost effective Voice banking services powered by AI will also be needed in coming years.

90% consumers are interested in social media post from the brand, so banks should be more interactive on their social media handles. Consumers want convenience and ease, and banks have an opportunity to reduce their operational costs by encouraging customers to move more of their bank interactions to mobile.

I was surprised by seeing that, India is far ahead of US, UK and Germany in mobile payment adoption. 68% customers are paying with financial mobile apps without using cash or physical credit or debit cards.

Mobile payments are gaining traction rapidly, particularly among Gen Yers (18 - 26) who are a top audience for banking providers.

Customers of top 50 banks and private sector banks are less satisfied than they were in 2018. However, public sector banks, traditionally seen as slow to react – saw their proportion of ‘extremely satisfied’ customers climb considerably, rocketing from the worst-performing category to the best.

About 28 percent of young Gen Yers (18-26) and 35 percent of older consumers (53+) are not satisfied with their banks, so financial institutions have a need to work upon that.

Report also revealed, In India, 28 percent use mobile phones for booking entertainment tickets and paying for utility bills, as compared to 3 percent in the United States and 4 percent in the United Kingdom.

According to PACE Report, Cyber Frauds are increasing and it’s a big challenge in the future, so quickly we will understand, how does fraud happen?

Fraudsters have become savvy at illegally obtaining information online. Hackers often pose as a legitimate representative and contact credit/Debit card owners asking for sensitive information then, use the following means of interaction to steal personal data:

• Email
• Mobile Phone calls
• Instant messaging Services
• Texting malware to smartphones
• Rerouting traffic to fraudulent websites

There is a reason why banks put up disclaimers announcing that their employees do not ask you for sensitive data, or that you should never reveal details like your OTP to an unknown person.

How can merchants mitigate fraud???

Before we deep dive into online payment fraud, it is important to keep in mind that fraudsters do not always use the same methods to initiate malicious activities with credit/Debit cards. Cyber thieves also work in teams to penetrate network security systems by looking for glitches or patches that haven't been updated in a while. These gaps give hackers access around a firewall and make it easy to illegally obtain sensitive information.

Although I am not a technical person, but after doing some online research and analyzing the facts from my understanding, I can say that it’s difficult to completely eliminate online payment fraud, there are various security measures that you can undertake as a merchant to reduce threats and breaches. Here are some of them:

• Maintain awareness of the latest fraud trends among customers.
• Partner with a verified payment processor.
• Encrypt transactions and emails containing confidential information.
• Ensure that tokens and login credentials are regularly changed.
• Establish a very strong policy regarding access to confidential information.
• Constantly run security checks with antivirus software.
• Require customers to log in to an individual account prior to making a purchase.

Bottom line:

Online fraud will remain a contentious issue even in the days to come. The more we connect and transact online, the bigger the threat. Moreover, since we cannot eliminate it, the solution must be to remain on guard every single second. The only way to prevent online fraud is through vigilance and regulation. According to Report, it is necessary that the banks enhance investments in security, fraud prevention and customer education, because it will enhance trustworthiness, which is currently consumers’ top priority while banking. For Report Click Here.