Western Banker November/December 2022

How Banks Can Foster Frictionless Consumer Experiences Without Compromising Cybersecurity

By Ricardo Font, Director of Product Management, Fiserv

T

As our world becomes more digitally enabled and con nected, banks are undertak ing digital transformation to

many regional banks. Many of these businesses are not financially equipped to recover from a major cyberattack, a significant concern as these attacks continue to grow in scale and sophistication. As an ex ample, robot networks (botnets) are systems of hijacked devices that run infected software to imitate human activity and gather valuable data. Financial institutions are a common target for these types of attacks be cause of the vast amount of private, sensitive information and account assets that they store. Cyberattacks can significantly lower consumer trust, not to mention the financial, legal and reputational risks

businesses face after falling victim to an attack. To counteract these risks, banks can strengthen cybersecurity measures by investing in robust pre ventative tactics, prioritizing educa tion for their employees and custom ers, and adopting real-time detection solutions. By taking these proactive steps, banks can uphold their re sponsibility to protect account hold er information and deepen customer relationships. Maintaining Frictionless Interactions With the digital transformation of banking, consumer interactions have grown faster and easier, and no one wants to take a step back. Cyberse curity measures are important, and

meet customer expectations. In hand with this digitization comes an add ed responsibility to ensure customer interactions remain safe from cyber security threats while remaining ef ficient and frictionless. Banks must strike a balance between robust cy bersecurity measures and consumers’ desire for ease of use. Rising to the Occasion According to an Accenture study, 43 percent of cyberattacks are aimed at small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), a category that includes

18 www.westernbankers.com | WesternBanker