Consumers Want More Fraud Protection from Their Banks and Financial Institutions

Individuals and small businesses are looking for peace of mind from their banks now, more than ever.  Financial institutions that can demonstrate the ability to protect personal information are more likely to retain happy, loyal customers.

As we’re seeing customer satisfaction scores for large banks drop below pre-pandemic levels, consumer confidence in bank security measures is growing in importance.  To create a secure environment, banks need to invest in fraud protection—and that includes in the voice channel.

The Desire for Safe Banking

In the recently released report, “Verint Experience Index: Banking,” we found that despite the rapid adoption of self-service in retail banking, many customers still prefer to use the phone, especially when it comes to their security.

The report, which surveyed American consumers on their banking habits, preferences, and opinions of leading banks, found that “for resolving issues with an account or reporting security concerns, consumers want the assurance of speaking to a human to help them, but for tasks like research or easily automated processes, digital channels are more popular.”

And fraud is becoming an increasingly significant decision point for consumers when considering their banking options. The Verint report states that three of the top factors of those surveyed had to do with fraud and security.

“Concerns about the security of their money and protection against identity fraud are clearly at the forefront of customers’ minds when choosing a new bank, with ‘security of personal information’ replacing ‘low fees’ as the most important factor, and with ‘fraud protection’ and ‘fraud alerts’ third and fourth in the ratings,” the report states.

Stopping Fraudsters in Their Tracks

Customers have good reason for their concern. From 2020 to 2021, cyberattacks increased by 31 percent, according to a recent Accenture study.

This is why banks and other financial institutions need a sophisticated fraud prevention solution that addresses these worries. Verint Call Risk Scoring detects fraudsters before they can infiltrate the contact center and access a customer’s information.

By analyzing calls in real time, Call Risk Scoring assigns a score based on the caller’s behavior, reputation, and other factors. This score is used by the contact center’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology so it can adapt and respond to suspicious actions attempted in the IVR.

This also keeps fraudsters from socially engineering the bank’s contact center agents with prying questions that might lead them to reveal a customer’s account information, reset a password, change an address or perform any other malicious action. Call Risk Scoring also allows the bank to alert the account holder that there was a threat to their account so they can change passwords or perform other safeguards.

In addition to customer retention, banks need to consider the true cost of fraud in their contact center, given that one dollar lost in fraud ultimately costs the enterprise almost $4 in total costs. We’ve seen the true cost of fraud prevention firsthand at Verint. One of our financial industry customers deployed Call Risk Scoring and has since saved more than $51 million in fraud losses, while also uncovering about 35 percent more fraud than they previously knew existed. At the same time, that company has saved more than $10 million in contact center costs each year the solution has been in place.

Call Risk Scoring, paired with Verint IVR, also delivers better contact center experiences for your agents. Its Call Verification capabilities don’t just protect banks from fraudsters—they also streamline the authentication process to lower handle time for agents and get customers quicker resolutions.

Preparing for the Fraud of Tomorrow

It’s also important for banks to realize that fraudsters are savvy and adaptable in their methods, and what works in stopping them today won’t necessarily succeed in the future. Banks need a solution in place that evolves and grows in scope to tackle future attacks to your contact center and your bottom line.

Here’s a free eBook about how banks and other enterprises can provide customers a safe and sophisticated experience through a modern IVR and fraud detection.