The survey results from our recent Americas ACI Exchange customer event are no exception. The data painted many pictures of the thoughts of the payment, banking and retailer participants. As someone close to the space, I found the survey results both affirming and in some cases, surprising – particularly in the area of fraud.
Fraud tops the list of risk/security concerns
When asked to think about the biggest risk/security concern facing the banking and payments industry, not surprisingly, fraud tops the list. Fraud comes in many forms: credit/debit card fraud, ACH fraud, wire fraud, online banking fraud, check fraud, insider fraud, and the like continue to plague banks, processors and retailers as a form of loss. Customer retention, customer satisfaction rates, and the corporate bottom line can all be factors resulting from fraud.
PCI data security compliance, data breaches, distributed denial of service (DDOS) and cybercrime (in order of concern) also made the list. While, somewhat surprisingly, only 5 percent identified anti-money laundering (AML) as a concern. This might have something to do with existing measures in place to address AML at FI’s however I am sure that the reputational risk and huge monetary implications (read: fines) certainly keep many chief risk or compliance officers up at night.
Fraud seen as a significant obstacle to implementing mobile solutions
The concern of mobile fraud is gaining traction as well as more than 1 in 10 respondents believe it will be a leading trend in the coming year. In fact, almost a third of respondents put fraud as one of the biggest obstacles to implementing mobile solutions. Mobile fraud is not posting significant fraud loss numbers just yet but the hype around mobile gets a good amount air time. The low numbers reported likely stem from low value transactions, limited point-of-sale (POS) mobile payment adoption, and general lack of uniform security protocols. Still, the cautious nature of the survey data affirms that there is still room for mobile device manufacturers, carriers, payments providers, and fraud management vendors to deliver more confidence in the nature of mobile banking and payments.
The fact that the industry is paying attention to and placing importance on fraud management and mitigation is highly encouraging. While this survey only focused on the feedback from participants in the Americas, I think it’s safe to say fraud is a global issue as fraud knows no boundaries and the industry will continue to need focus for battling and preventing loss and risk.
Payments hub 
