Financial services

Banks trusted most for fraud protection

25 January 2013

90 per cent of UK customers trust their bank to protect them from fraud

According to an ACI Worldwide survey, Britain’s banks are trusted more than the government when it comes to protecting customers from fraud. 

In fact, 80 per cent of Brits think that government and law enforcement agencies only do an average or below average job of fighting card and account fraud, according to the poll of around 300 people.

A notable minority (16 per cent) say the government is doing a very bad or poor job, and two thirds say ministers are doing an average job. Just a fifth think they are doing a good or excellent job.

In contrast, a massive 90 per cent of UK consumers say they have confidence in their financial institution to protect them from card fraud.

“It is promising to see that the majority of British consumers trust banks to protect them from card fraud,” said Mike Braatz senior vice president, fraud solutions, ACI Worldwide. “Being the victim of fraud is very stressful, leaving people short of money at crucial moments and leading to lengthy claims processes. It is testament to the way most banks detect and halt fraud that people feel they are in safe hands. Unfortunately, it seems that consumers think the UK government is not doing enough to fight card or account fraud. While the UK does have a robust fraud strategy, these findings underline the importance Brits place on fraud detection and protection.”

However, the UK government is doing better than some of its peers; 55 per cent of Mexicans think their government is doing a very bad or poor job in fighting card or account fraud, 47 per cent of South Africans, 36 per cent of Italians, 33 per cent of Chinese and 26 per cent of Americans. This comes at a time when EU authorities have estimated payment card fraud losses in Europe are in the region of €1.5 billion a year.

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