Banking customers have an unprecedented number of options, and to attract customers, financial institutions need to offer the right blend of services including fraud protection. Consumers are well aware that criminals are trying to steal their private information, and they want to know that they are protected.
To be competitive, your financial institution needs to offer the fraud prevention and detection tools that customers want and expect to have such as the following.
1. Secure log-in
Over 57 million Americans use mobile banking, and the number is expected to continue to rise. Customers want the ability to handle all their banking needs electronically, but they also need to ensure that their data is safe with a secure log-in process.
Your financial institution should have a log-in process that allows customers to access their accounts using patterns, biometrics, or dual-factor authentication, but at the same time, you also need to ensure the log-in process is as frictionless as possible for your customers.
For instance, your system should be able to recognize if the log-in request is coming from the accountholder’s usual device or normal IP address, and it can adjust its processes as needed based on the potential risk of the transaction.
2. Real-time alerts
It’s not the 1980’s. Customers don’t want to receive a letter in the mail a week after an incident has taken place. They want to know now. Instantly. And if your financial institution isn’t providing real-time alerts, you’re not meeting expectations and you’re increasing your risk of loss.
You need to be able to provide customers with real-time alerts over phone or text so they know if anything unusual is happening with their account. In addition to letting them know about possible cases of fraud, real-time alerts can also help your customers manage their accounts more effectively.
3. 24/7 fraud monitoring
Criminals never rest, and your fraud detection efforts cannot either. If you want your financial institution to be competitive in this environment, you need to reassure customers that you are monitoring their accounts for fraud 24/7.
4. Enhanced information
Customers cannot always remember if they’ve made a purchase, or they may have multiple people in the family using their account. By extension, they often need to know more about a transaction so they can determine if it came from someone who has legitimate access to their account or an outsider.
To facilitate this process, you should offer your customer enhanced information about their translations. Ideally, they should be able to select transactions in your banking app or online account portal and instantly get more details about the merchant, the time, etc.
5. Easy fraud reporting processes
If they suspect fraud, customers shouldn’t have to spend time looking for contact information. They should easily be able to alert your financial institution. For instance, they should be able to click a transaction in an online banking session and enter a fraud report.
Similarly, your website should clearly outline how to report fraud, and one of the very first automated options people hear on your customer service line should be an option to report their card lost or stolen or report suspected fraud.
6. Card lock and unlock
Sometimes, customers misplace their cards, and while they want to ensure they cannot be used by a criminal, they don’t want to report the card missing in case they find it. In this situation, customers need the ability to lock and unlock their cards, and again, this function should be easily available in your app, online account portals, and even over the phone.
7. Additional liability protection
You may want to go above and beyond the liability you’re required to provide customers by law and offer additional liability protection to customers who become the victims of fraud. Be clear about your policies and let customers know when they need to report suspected fraud to avoid liability for the losses.
8. Real-time, machine-learning fraud prevention solutions
Your customers may not know what real-time, machine-learning fraud solutions are, but they expect you to have these solutions in place. Even if customers aren’t familiar with these terms, they are familiar with the frustration of not being able to use their card while traveling or being denied an unusually high ATM withdrawal request.
This happens when banks use rule-based anti-fraud measures that are prone to flagging legitimate transactions as fraudulent. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you need a system that allows every single transaction to go through whether it has fraud markers or not. Rather, it means that you need an intelligent system that can evaluate transactions in real-time, and if something seems off, they can automatically request additional verification from the customer.
For instance, someone using the ATM may have a code sent to their phone or email and someone using their debit card out of town may receive a text confirming that they made the transaction.
These types of anti-fraud solutions preserve the customer experience while also protecting your customer from fraud. Static, rule-based fraud prevention tools cannot strike the right balance. Additionally, the machine-learning element means these anti-fraud tools become more effective over time, as they get to know your customers and their behavior.
9. A positive reputation
Customers don’t just look at the products and services offered by a financial institution — they also carefully consider the financial institution’s reputation, and if your financial institution has a reputation for falling pretty to data breaches or other types of fraud, you will struggle to attract and retain customers.
At SQN Banking Systems, we provide the tools and solutions you need to protect your financial institution and your customers from fraud. You cannot afford to ignore fraud, and by investing in fraud detection and prevention solutions, you’re investing in your customer and your bottom line. To learn more, contact us today.