PRESS RELEASE

San Francisco, CA, October 8, 2014: Criminals are fueling their assault on consumers’ checking and savings accounts with targeted data breaches and malware attacks, which are lucrative sources of account credentials and financial information. Their success was undeniable, as existing non- card fraud (ENCF) nearly tripled from 2012 to 2013, and resulted in total loss of $5 billion. These incidents are facilitated by the proliferation of a variety of stolen consumer PII that can be used for account access. 

Today, Javelin Strategy & Research released 2014 Identity Safety in Banking, which evaluated the Top 50 financial institutions’ performance on providing consumer-facing information about account security features. The winning financial institutions are educating consumers about features and services and confronting the broadest array of fraud threats and to manage the damage when all defenses fail.

With so many ways to break into and take over consumer bank accounts, the need for secondary authentication for high-risk transactions within a banking session is at an all-time high. Only 1 in 5 FIs currently utilizes this additional layer of security, compared to 100% of the Prevention winners -- Union Bank, Bank of America, Bank of the West, HSBC and USAA. One-time passwords sent to a mobile phone are effective in a high-risk situation, yet are only used 20% of top 50 FIs, compared to 40% of Prevention awardees.

“Take advantage of the full range of mobile capabilities — it’s not enough to just have an app”, says Al Pascual, Senior Analyst of Fraud & Security at Javelin Strategy & Research.  “Banks should encourage mobile app use by limiting the features offered through browser login when the device is identified as a mobile device, or offering to waive fees for services if the mobile app is used.”

Identity Safety in Banking Award winners:

*Best Overall in Identity Safety in Banking:  Bank of America scored highest among all Top 50 financial institutions and earned the Best Overall award.  It offers the most comprehensive packages of authentication and mobile prevention solutions.

*Identity Safety in Banking: Prevention category. Union Bank, Bank of America, Bank of the West, HSBC and USAA received this award for offering comprehensive packages of security features on basic checking accounts.

*Identity Safety in Banking: Detection category. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Capital One, and US Bank received the Identity Safety in Banking in Detection category.  All the winners in this category offer alerts as in-app notification, compared to only 32% of their peers at Top 50 financial institutions.

*Identity Safety in Banking: Resolution category. Ally Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC and Navy Federal Credit Union received Identity Safety in Banking in Resolution category.  These five winners scored considerably higher (94% to 78%) compared to an average score of 50% of top 50 financial institutions.

Javelin’s ninth annual Identity Safety in Banking evaluates the Top 50 financial institutions by deposit size and assesses the performance of individual FIs on their consumer-facing security features.   The financial institutions were evaluated using Javelin’s Protection, Detection, and Resolution Model. The specific criteria are updated each year to reflect top industry standards and emerging fraud trends and do not cover FIs’ back-end security practices.

The study evaluated the following Top 50 financial institutions’ consumer-facing security features:  Ally Bank, Associated Bank, Bank of Oklahoma, Bank of the West, BB&T Bank, BBVA Compass, BMO Harris Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, City National Bank, Comerica, Commerce Bank, Discover, East West Bank, Fifth Third Bank, First Citizens Bank, First Hawaiian Bank, First Merit Bank, First Niagara, First Republic Bank, Frost Bank, Hancock Bank, HSBC, Hudson City Bank, Huntington, KeyCorp, M&T Bank, Navy Federal Credit Union, New York Community Bank, One West Bank, People’s United Bank, PNC Bank, Popular Community Bank, RBS Citizens, Regions, Santander Bank, Signature Bank, State Employees Credit Union, SunTrust, Synovus, TCF Bank, TD Bank, Union Bank, US Bank, USAA, Webster Bank, Wells Fargo, Zions Bank.

About Javelin Strategy & Research
Javelin Strategy & Research, a Greenwich Associates LLC company, provides strategic insights into customer transactions, increasing sustainable profits for financial institutions, government, payments companies, merchants and other technology providers. Javelin’s independent insights result from a uniquely rigorous three-dimensional research process that assesses customers, providers, and the transactions ecosystem.

Danielle Ostrovsky
Public Relations
Javelin Strategy & Research
(336) 202-1910