Amid concerns about cyberattacks, local financial experts are assuring there’s no need for undue concern about digital banking.
In fact, they say financial institutions are taking no chances when it comes to protecting their customers, and they have advised clients to take their own precautions by being more vigilant.
The safety of digital banking emerged as a talking point at the Leveraging Digital Banking for Your Business seminar at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Wednesday evening.
The event, which targeted owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, is a precursor to a Digital Banking Lounge that will be hosted at the upcoming KLOTH Lifestyle Pop-Up Shop & Expo.
The Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union Limited (BPWCCUL) Chief Operations Officer Richard Kennedy told the audience that financial institutions across the board have been investing heavily in security features to offer strong protection.
Republic Bank General Manager, Credit & Enterprise Risk, Steven Jordan.
“So, even if you were a bit careless, even if you didn’t understand what you needed to do in terms of protecting yourself, even if you got that phishing email or what have you, there are a number of things that the financial institutions have invested in making sure we protect your money with us.
“Even if you don’t know everything, knowing that there’s a measure of comfort that you can have that the banks have spent thousands and thousands of dollars literally on an ongoing basis as well as in terms of the upfront investment in protecting your investment, your cash, using digital channels,” he said.
On Tuesday, the BPWCCUL fended off a breach that threatened membership card accounts. Group Chief Executive Officer Glyne Harrison told Barbados TODAY that the institution had discovered that international hackers were attempting to breach the card accounts, but they were blocked through the credit union’s fraud detection system.
The Barbados Workers’ Union Credit Union Manager for Information Security Antonio Arthur said the transition to chip-and-pin technology had significantly improved security.
“I know we would have had issues in the past with card skimming, and you know, we spared no expense in rolling out a solution that is now going to prevent that kind of situation from ever occurring again,” he pointed out.
Chief Client Officer at Sagicor Bank Lee-Anne O’Selmo.
Arthur also identified the introduction of two-factor authentication to access accounts as part of the security protocols.
“Even if you have issues with your password or what have you, if that is compromised you still have the safety of knowing that there is another requirement to access your account. Additionally, I think people also need to be very careful about phishing emails and all those other attempts that people make to encourage you to enter information that could cause you to be compromised,” he said.
Republic Bank’s General Manager, Credit & Enterprise Risk, Steven Jordan acknowledged that there is always a risk with any system but pointed out that consumers have to know and understand associated risks. He explained that the use of cash is no less risky and customers must take action to protect their money.
“So we are comfortable with cash, but there’s a risk associated with carrying cash. So what do we do in our businesses? We deposit the cash every day, we don’t hold it in the company because we don’t want to get robbed, we go to the bank at different times, or if we have a lot of cash we will get a security firm to come and pick it up, so we do things to reduce the risk associated with cash, right?
“So digitisation is the same thing. You have a mechanism, you just need to understand the risk and you do things to minimise that risk. So if you have the ATM card, you know that you’re not supposed to give individuals the PIN. You need to protect your PIN. You don’t go to ATMs in certain locations at night. Now you go to a gas station ATM as opposed to an ATM that is in a lonely area. So, it’s just understanding the actual product, how it functions and the way you can reduce the risk, but there’s risk everywhere just that we are a little more comfortable with some because that’s the mechanism that we use all the time.”
Lee-Anne O’Selmo, Chief Client Officer at Sagicor Bank, the island’s first fully digital bank, pointed out that there are several security features embedded in digital platforms to protect clients.
“When you log on to your mobile app biometrics, there are security features being built in. Some of us have transaction monitoring where we actually monitor your behaviour and if something seems outside of the regular pattern of your behaviour, it flags it for us and we reach out to you. So there are lots of features that everyone is offering that can at least make you feel more comfortable in terms of moving digital,” she explained.
CIBC FirstCaribbean’s Associate Director, Innovation & Lending Channels, Christopher McFarlane added that the financial network has made significant improvements to allow customers to make smart choices and they should utilise those. (SD)
