Card Fraud Increases 60% in 18 months, According to ACI Survey
ACI Worldwide, an international provider of payment systems, has released the results of its 2010 Global Card Fraud Survey, showing that approaching a third (29%) of consumers across eight major economies have been victims of card fraud in the past five years. This is up from less than a fifth (18%) in summer 2009. However, the good news for financial institutions is that 79% of these card fraud victims were satisfied with the response from their financial institution, up from 75% in 2009.
The UK has a higher instance of card fraud than most other countries surveyed, with a third (33%) of consumers falling victim in the past five years, up from just 27% only 18 months ago, which means an estimated 14.6 million UK consumers have been the victims of card fraud in the past five years. However, these results vary significantly by country – for example nearly half (43%) of people in China have been victims of card fraud, compared to only 11% in the Netherlands.
According to the survey of 4,200 consumers across 14 countries, 41% would change or consider swapping their financial institution as a result of being a victim of card fraud or knowing someone who was. However, a further 45% say it would depend on the quality of service they received, highlighting the importance of customer service and response when fraud does happen. In the UK, 37% of consumers would change or consider swapping financial institutions following an incidence of card fraud, down from 41% in 2009.
Promisingly, the UK only had 14% of consumers unhappy with the treatment they received, the US 12% and Australia 10%, compared to 41% in India, 38% in Dubai and 32% in Singapore.
In the UK, the speed at which money was refunded following fraud was the main reason for customer satisfaction (40%) closely followed by the ability of financial institutions to identify the fraud before account holders (34%). This is a picture reflected across the globe although remarkably American consumers say that the ability for their bank to identify the fraud before them (40%) is more important than actually getting the money back quickly (32%).
The good news for the banking industry is that 81% of people have confidence in their financial institution to protect them from card fraud. Across all countries surveyed, only 19% of consumers feel that their banks could do more to protect them. Encouragingly, just 13% of UK consumers feel this way, but in some Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) and Middle Eastern economies, financial institutions need to do more to instil trust in their services. In China, 42% of respondents alongside 29% of Brazilians, and 25% in Dubai have little or no confidence in the ability of their financial institution to protect them from card fraud.
Consumers themselves claim they want to be kept informed about fraud by their financial institution. Over half (54%) of people want their bank to contact them on their mobile, either with a call or by SMS, if they notice suspicious activity on their card, rising to 65% in India, 85% in Dubai and 78% in Singapore. In the UK, 39% of consumers want to be contacted on their mobile.
David Divitt, senior fraud consultant at ACI Worldwide, said: “It is clear that financial institutions and processors are working tirelessly to combat card fraud and protect their customers – and this is paying dividends in terms of customer satisfaction. However, fraud is constantly changing and, looking forward, the industry will need to increase focus on identifying identity theft and assisting victims to maintain this improvement in customer experience.”