The Entersekt blog.

The digitalization of banking has reached an inflection point, with Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella saying he’s “seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.”

Years of large-scale, and much-publicized, data theft has us all feeling there’s a target on our back. With the number of online services increasing rapidly, we’re sharing and using our personal details more than ever before. A side effect of this rapid growth in personal information sharing is that we know our personal details are out there in the digital wild, probably being shared among hackers, and sold by crime syndicates.

“Ready or not, here I come!” If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from the explosive growth in digital banking is how quick fraudsters are to spot an opportunity and exploit it. And opportunity, it seems, is knocking loudly.

From cash to credit cards to digital payments, the speed with which we can move money from account to account has exploded. Now, with the rollout of real-time payments or faster payments, it’s almost instantaneous. For most of us, making payments is a large part of the business we do through banks, so any innovation that saves us time is welcome, but this need for speed exposing us to greater risk of fraud?

When Simon’s wife started receiving text messages from the UK government recently, they were both skeptical. After all, they – like many of us – had repeatedly had it drummed into them that authorities would never contact the public with certain information or in a certain way. Yet, there they were: seemingly important messages conveyed through a channel notorious for scamming the masses.

When asked his advice on how to succeed, a wise gentleman once said: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing”. That gentleman was Walt Disney and, well, we all know the outcome of his timeless endeavors…

Much like water flowing downhill, fraudsters take the path of least resistance. The advent of the EMV chip made card-present fraud more difficult, reducing it to an all-time low. And while this was great news for brick-and-mortar retailers, the fraudsters’ attention simply moved to the digital space, where banks must now contend with fraud in peer-to-peer payments, credit and debit cards, account takeover, and fraudulent account opening.

Since the late nineteenth century, law-enforcement agencies around the world have used fingerprint identification methods to positively identify the suspects and victims of crime. Since its inception, fingerprinting has become a highly sophisticated forensic science – one on which technology has had an immense impact.

At a time where we are arguably relying more on digital interactions than ever before, many people face a dilemma when it comes to their finances. On the one hand, they need digital channels to manage their accounts and conduct transactional activities to a greater extent than before. On the other, significant numbers fear that digital communications expose them to greater risk.

The focus on customer experience has been the status quo in retail for years, and it’s becoming increasingly relevant for financial institutions (FIs). Secure in-app messaging gives banks the opportunity to maximize the potential of their banking apps and immerse their customers in an experience where they feel secure enough to be the drivers of their own financial journeys.