FILIPINO financial consumers are growing wary of cybercrime among banks and other online accounts, as a recent survey showed that 2 out of 5 Filipinos consider scam protection as a main consideration in opening an online financial account.
International data analytics company Fair, Isaac and Co. (Fico) said its latest global consumer fraud survey has revealed that 2 in 5 Filipino consumers say good fraud and scam protection is their top consideration when looking to select a new financial account.
The survey also showed that a further 1 in 4 say it is the second most important consideration.
FICO’s survey also showed that Filipinos are growing wary because more and more are being victims of online scam and fraud.
Results showed that 4.5 percent of adult Filipinos – which is equivalent to 5 million—know they’ve been a victim of identity theft. An additional 6 percent think “it is likely” that their identity has been used to open an account.
“With around 57 million banking customers in the Philippines, if 40 percent of consumers are filtering financial providers to find those with the strongest fraud protection, that’s a market of more than 23 million,” said CK Leo, FICO’s lead for fraud, security and financial crime in Asia Pacific.
“This is a significant opportunity and shows that good fraud protection can be a bank’s biggest sales asset rather than just an overhead,” the official added.
The bad news is, Filipinos are also not very keen on identity checks when opening an account.
FICO’s survey showed that Filipinos say identity checks that are too difficult or time-consuming have stopped them from opening a range of different accounts.
In particular, 27 percent of customers have given up on opening a savings account, 27 percent on a credit card and 32 percent on a personal loan.
Further to this, 25 percent of Filipinos say difficult or time-consuming identity checks mean they have reduced their use or stopped using their bank account and 28 percent have stopped or reduced use of a credit card.
“As new scams and frauds emerge, banks are increasingly challenged with balancing customer experience needs against managing fraud risks and controls such as securing payment verification,” Leo said.
The survey also showed that there is a correlation between the perceived effectiveness of a security method and people’s preference for using it.
Biometric security was favored and polled as the most secure, with fingerprints in top place on 65 percent and face scans on 60 percent.
Despite this, FICO said many consumers have established habits and a reluctance to move on from traditional, less secure methods. About 41 percent of Filipinos still show a strong preference to use old-fashioned usernames and passwords while 47 percent like to receive passcodes sent via SMS.
“It takes a while for customers to develop confidence in new security methods even if they are better. Banks need to remain flexible but find ways to show new channels are trustworthy, effective and more convenient,” Leo said.