Why banks need consumers to detect imposters

In the first half of 2016 alone, there were more than one million incidents of financial fraud, an increase of 53 per cent on the same period last year; with identity fraud against individuals costing an estimated five billion pounds last year.

Identity fraud occurs when an imposter pretends to be someone else. To prevent this, banks ask customers for passwords, but judging from the fraud figures, this isn’t working and things are getting worse. The reason is simple: data cannot differentiate. A password provided by the true customer is exactly the same when that same password is provided by an impostor.

Branches and mobile banking: do you need both?

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One of the discussions at the Payments Knowledge Forum, which took place in London last week, was whether or not both branches and mobile banking are needed? While there were plenty of good arguments for both sides of the debate, the main common point was consumer experience. Consumers want to have an enjoyable banking service that is easy to use and consistent, whatever the channel. Robert Johnston, marketing director at NCR, said that a key differentiator from one company to another is the quality of consumer experience, more so than the products that are on offer.