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What We’re Reading: Mobile Money, Outages and PFM

February 21, 2013 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

 

  • JPMorgan Chase Endures Website Outage

American Banker

JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) website was shut down for some Friday, stopping bank customers from retrieving their accounts. The New York bank took to Twitter to tell customers its online banking was “experiencing intermittent issues” that the company was working to resolve. The outage endured for a few hours, bank spokesman Tom Kelly told American Banker. “We’re back to normal response times now,” Kelly said. JPMorgan Chase is researching the cause of the outage, Kelly said.

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  • Moven From Mobile Banking to Mobile Money

Bank Marketing Strategy

February is definitely a pivotal month for the start-up previously known as Movenbank, having changed its name to Moven, winning the best of show honors at Finovate Europe and gearing up for a February 25 closed beta launch of its mobile-optimized financial services application. Similar to Simple, while not having a banking charter, Moven provides a unique customer experience interface with a traditional banking organization working in the background (with banking licenses, FDIC insurance, etc.).

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  • A Look At What Citi Is Doing With Online Platform

Credit Union Journal

After Forrester Research dubbed Citi’s online banking site the best in the U.S. recently, Tracey Weber, Citigroup’s head of internet and mobile banking and Bank Technology News’ Mobile Banker of the Year for 2012, spoke about the bank’s latest initiatives. The developers made the site simpler, cleaner, and easier to navigate, she says. “We elevated a lot of the quick tasks that you do on a regular basis, like paying a bill, without having to continually have to find your way back to the dashboard. We also integrated PFM and account integration into the dashboard.” Citi partners with Yodlee for PFM and account aggregation.

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  • Four Common Misjudgments About Whether Consumers Want PFM

Javelin Strategy & Research Blog

There is a spirited conversation occurring in a Personal Finance Management subgroup on LinkedIn, spurred by Mary Wisniewski’s column in American Banker about how “PFM Defies Definition.” The heart of the discussion points to the growing awareness that PFM must break free from the 1980s definition of budgeting and investment tools for do-it-yourself PC enthusiasts with a masochistic delight for details, tracking, and quantitative analysis. The financial services industry makes a number of fundamental mistakes in their thinking and approach to PFM.

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  • Banks to spend $118B on tech, mobile banking in 2013

Mobile Payments Today

Retail banks worldwide will increase their IT spending by 3.4 percent this year — to a total of $118.6 billion. Industry analysts at Ovum predict that spending in Asia will rise 5.1 percent, followed by North America at 3.3 percent, and Europe at 1.8 percent. In a new business trends report, Ovum said that mobile banking would be a “clear IT investment priority in 2013.” The company suggested that total spending for online channels — including online and mobile browser-based services — will grow by 6.2 percent in 2013.

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  • More Than 12 Million Identity Fraud Victims in 2012 According to Latest Javelin Strategy & Research Report

PYMNTS.com

The 2013 Identity Fraud Report released today by Javelin Strategy & Research reports that in 2012 identity fraud incidents increased by more than one million victims and fraudsters stole more than $21 billion, the highest amount since 2009. The study found 12.6 million victims of identity fraud in the United States in the past year, which equates to 1 victim every 3 seconds. The report also found that nearly 1 in 4 data breach letter recipients became a victim of identity fraud, with breaches involving Social Security numbers to be the most damaging. Over the past year, companies are responding more quickly which means a consumer’s information is being misused for fewer days than ever before, and the mean cost per victim has been flattening.

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  • Finance and the American poor: Margin calls

The Economist

In December the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released a survey that found roughly one in 12 American households, or some 17m adults, are “unbanked”, meaning they lack a current or savings account. The survey also found that one in every five American households is “underbanked”, meaning that they have a bank account but also rely on alternative services–typically, high-cost products such as payday loans, cheque-cashing services, non-bank money orders or pawn shops. Not all the unbanked are poor, nor do all poor people lack bank accounts. But the rate of the unbanked among low-income households (defined in the FDIC survey as those with an annual income below $15,000) is more than three times the overall rate.

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  • Mobile Banking Now Vital To Customer Acquisition

The Financial Brand

A survey recently fielded on FindABetterBank uncovered that 88% of shoppers who said mobile banking is a “must have” feature are already mobile banking users. Therefore, as more consumers download their bank’s mobile apps and begin using them, you can expect the number of consumers demanding mobile banking when they’re shopping for a new institution to increase steadily. Few people, however, defect from an institution simply because mobile banking isn’t offered.

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  • Every company now a digital business

ZDNet

The convergence of social media, mobile computing, analytics and the cloud is transforming the way businesses operate. Companies that adopt available technologies to “go digital” will be better positioned to take advantage of rapidly shifting business opportunities and leap ahead of the competition, according to Accenture’s Technology Vision 2013 report. Since technology is now core to virtually every aspect of a business, every company is a digital business and all senior leaders–not just CIOs–must be able to understand, embrace and drive value from new technologies that affect their organizations, it added.

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Filed Under Industry News Tagged With acquisition, Citi, customer experience, finance, fraud, margin, mobile banking, movebank, payments, PFM, what we're reading

Fast Facts: Child Identity Theft

February 11, 2013 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

The Financial Services Roundtable recently released another iteration of its Fast Facts, reliable, bullet-point research about issues facing the financial services industry. Topics span TARP, Dodd-Frank, insurance, lending, retirement savings and more.  Below are some updated Fast Facts on child identity theft as children may be an easy target for identity theft and often don’t discover it until years later when they apply for a job or attempt to take out a loan.

FACT: One in 40 households in the US with children under the age of ages 18 is affected by identity fraud.

FACT: 56% of child identity theft cases reported misuse of the child’s Social Security Number (SSN).

  • Thieves will often create a ‘synthetic identity’ using the child’s SSN and a different name, date of birth, and address, to obtain new bank or credit accounts for financial gain, or services such as utilities, phone, cellular, and Internet.
  • Children’s information is also used to commit non-financial identity theft, including obtaining fraudulent tax returns or government benefits, housing rental, employment, medical treatment, or evading criminal charges.

FACT: Lower income families are disproportionately affected by child identity fraud, with 50% of victims living in households with incomes under $35,000.

  • Of victims who were able to identify the perpetrators of these crimes, 36% found them to be family members, and an additional 35% were family friends.

FACT: Child identity fraud can be avoided. Check early and often.

  • Keep personal information like birth certificates and social security cards locked away and sensitive computer documents password protected. Use a cross-cut paper shredder before disposing of paper documents of this nature.
  • Teach children how to be safe online, particularly while visiting unsecured websites and using social media.

FACT: Federal law under the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act allows for the request of one free credit report per year.

  • If your child’s identity has been stolen, contact the three credit reporting agencies to place a fraud alert, and then file the theft claim with the Federal Trade Commission.
  • Because a child’s SSN is often used as part of a synthetic identity, ask each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax (1-800-525-6285), Experian (1-888-397-3742) and TransUnion (childidtheft@transunion.com), for a manual search for your child’s credit report, based only on the child’s SSN.
  • Ask each agency for its mailing address, because you will need to provide a cover letter with proof that you are the child’s parent or legal guardian.
  • You may consider placing a credit freeze to prevent thieves from opening additional accounts under your child’s name.

For more information on how to combat child identity theft and learn preventative measures, visit the Identity Theft Assistance Center website.

 

Copyright © 2013 The Financial Services Roundtable, All rights reserved.

Filed Under Data & Research, Industry News Tagged With Children, fast facts, fraud, identity, loans, statistics, The Financial Services Roundtable, youth

Bank Robbing 2.0

May 15, 2012 By David Sutton Leave a Comment

Financial institutions have plenty to worry about these days: robbers, hackers, fraudsters, scammers, viruses, malware, trojans —and the list goes on. One little talked about threat to FIs and their customers is ATM fraud in the form of skimming.

Skimming is the act of hijacking account information through the use of a card reader, usually installed on an ATM and fabricated to look like a part of the machine. Thieves have even utilized the readers used to unlock after-hours ATM kiosks. Often, a camera accompanies the card reader attached directly on ATMs and records customers entering their PIN.

Fraudsters can then withdraw money directly from the compromised account or sell the information to other criminals. Guns, drugs and other illicit materials can then be purchased with the stolen funds and card information, or criminals can perpetrate identity theft.

A recent post on the Krebs on Security blog, a banking and finance security blog, shows the latest in skimmer technology recovered from a compromised ATM. The unit is an all-in-one card reader with a built-in pinhole camera, seamlessly attached to an ATM — pretty sophisticated stuff.

One expert estimates more than $350,000 stolen from ATMs worldwide every day via skimming. With ATMs seemingly everywhere one could go – grocery stores, movie theaters, malls, gas stations – there is no shortage for opportunity. This reveals another part of the problem: unless you are a bank security expert, chances are remote that anyone from your FI has mentioned skimming or how to minimize the risk.

Here are some simple steps both FIs and their customers can use to lower the chance they will be victimized:

  1. Before inserting your card, always scrutinize the ATM for parts that look out of place, been added on or just plain don’t belong. Check for mismatched and uneven seams or other irregularities.
  2. Use your hand as a shield while you enter your PIN. This is perhaps the easiest preventative measure one can take. It will also prevent shoulder snoopers from spying on you.
  3. Educate yourself about skimming (and other forms of fraud). FIs can do a better job teaching their customers about skimming to help customers and members minimize the risk of being victimized. Hang a poster next to the ATMs or print warnings right on the machines, so it is fresh on the ATM user’s mind.
  4. Remind customers to check their account activity often, and report any unfamiliar transactions to the FI.

As FIs continue to utilize ATMs for both convenience and cost-savings, the frequency of skimming attacks will only increase in both volume and sophistication. Should these attacks be thwarted, FIs, customers and law enforcement must stay vigilant and ahead of the criminals and their ever-advancing technology.

Does your FI already have preventative measures in place against skimmers? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

Editor’s Note: David Sutton has a BA in economics and a MS in business journalism, and his articles have appeared on Forbes.com and in the Boston Business Journal. David has had a bank account since he was three.

Filed Under For Financial Institutions Tagged With ATM, financial institutions, fraud, security

FDIC Outlines Top 10 Online Resources for Consumers

March 10, 2011 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

This week, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) honored National Consumer Protection Week by sharing 10 online resources to keep consumers safe while managing their finances. In an era where “Googling” reliable information is standard, the FDIC wants to ensure that consumers are getting practical and dependable tips to help avoid fraud while managing their bank accounts.

A few of the resources offered by the FDIC include:

  • Bank Find: Our online directory that consumers can use to locate an FDIC-insured institution, learn what happened to a bank that changed names or no longer exists, and more.
  • Small Business Web Page: Useful information for small businesses, especially regarding access to loans, plus an online form to ask the FDIC a question or register a concern.
  • Foreclosure Prevention Toolkit: A Web page that provides easy access to helpful information for homeowners on avoiding foreclosure and foreclosure “rescue” scams.

To read the remainder of the tips, visit the FDIC.

What does your FI do to inform customers about the danger of online fraud? Let us know in the comments section below.

Filed Under For Financial Institutions Tagged With consumers, FDIC, fraud, National Consumer Protection Week, online banking