As the world increasingly becomes digital, banking transactions and account servicing requests have become more convenient and accessible. However, this has also led to fraudsters developing new ways to exploit vulnerabilities by stealing the identity of bank customers. One effective way to combat fraudulent activities is using real-time customer authentication.
Customer Verify is a real-time customer authentication tool that uses a numeric, time-sensitive SMS text for customer verification. The text is sent to the customer's phone number that is already on file in the bank's core system versus a spoofed phone number. Authentication is often used to confirm a customer's identity at the time of a transaction, whether in-branch, phone, or chat. Banks also use customer authentication as a best practice for other routine customer inquiries that may require a heightened level of security, such as a change of address or other customer profile updates. Another benefit is that it can provide peace of mind to the bank's customers, ensuring their identity and transactions are safe while helping to protect the bank from malicious and fraudulent activities.
Fraudsters often use social engineering schemes to pose as customers, using basic information like name, address, email, DOB or SSN, and then try to leverage that data to gain account access. With real-time customer authentication, banks can reduce the risk of fraud in high-risk, high-value transactions like ACH, wire, or other routine customer account requests.
Fraudulent transactions can cause significant financial losses to both customers and banks, which can lead to reputational risks. In fact, with the cost of fraud being up to 13% higher than before the pandemic, nationally, banks lose millions of dollars to fraud each year. Trust and confidence for banks are the cornerstone of their business and reputation. Fraud in whatever form it may take can have far-reaching consequences, damaging customer trust and causing long-term harm to a bank's brand. By implementing real-time customer authentication, banks can demonstrate their commitment to protecting their customers' interests while safeguarding their own reputation.
In summary, real-time authentication is a critical tool for banks to help minimize transactional risk or other risks that the bank manages daily when it comes to their customers. It provides essential protection not only for fraudulent activities but also for other activities like ACH or wire transactions or change of address or simply confirming the identity of a customer in branch, on the phone or chat. Using Customer Verify for real-time customer authentication should be considered an essential investment for any financial institution looking to protect its business and ensure the safety of its customers' accounts and identity.
ABOUT BANKWISE TECHNOLOGY
BankWise Technology provides custom data integration, API and RPA applications, and plug-n-play interface modules through its Happy Banker platform for community banks and credit unions. Our focus is on providing solutions for our clients that are easily adapted to their operating environment while being flexible and user-friendly.
The team has combined experience of 60+ years in the financial services industry. Expertise ranges from front and back-end application development to planning and implementation. We assist innovative financial institutions in looking for ways to increase operational efficiency with data integration and software development and to help develop new products and services. From managing PPP (Payroll Protection Program) loans to bitcoin rewards checking or Pay Ring and core system interfaces, we can help. Please contact us to learn more about our services.