Why Kiwi consumers are concerned about their bank’s security
New research from Unisys revealed New Zealand bank customers rank data security as the issue that matters to them most about their bank – underscoring the importance of data security as banks prepare to work with third-parties to roll out new services in an Open Banking environment.
The 2019 Asia Pacific Banking Insights: Trusting in the Banking Experience is a study of the attitudes of banking customers in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Taiwan.
This year's report identifies which bank attributes matter most to consumers and explores the delicate relationship between security, convenience and trust in financial institutions.
The majority of New Zealanders (57 per cent) cite the security and safety of customer data as the thing that matters to them most when engaging with a bank. More than half (54 per cent) rank fast and efficient service as a priority, while 45 per cent cite transparency.
Of the five countries surveyed, New Zealand bank consumers have the second highest level of trust in banks to protect customer data with 41 per cent of respondents citing banks as the organisation they most trust to share personal data with, but the lowest level of trust in government (17 per cent).
Young people aged 18-24 are the age group with the highest trust in banks (52 per cent), but the lowest trust in government (17 per cent).
New Zealanders are increasingly frustrated by inefficient bank interactions and not being able to fully complete transactions online.
They rank having to repeat themselves to different consultants or bank channels as the most annoying thing about their bank with 32 per cent annoyed by this issue – up from 24 per cent in 2018.
And have the region's highest level of frustration with online services that require a visit to a branch or printing a form (19 per cent of respondents – up from 12 per cent from the previous year). And those aged 18-34 are almost twice as annoyed by this as older New Zealanders.
The vast majority of New Zealanders are comfortable using voice, face or fingerprint recognition to access mobile banking apps (57 per cent) or facial or fingerprint recognition at an ATM (67 per cent).
Slightly fewer (60 per cent) are comfortable using voice recognition when calling the bank's call centre.
However, they are yet to embrace behavioural biometrics with only 32 per cent comfortable with a bank tracking the unique way a person scrolls through websites, types on a phone or presses buttons, to verify identity.
Of those who don't support using biometrics in banking, most say they are 'just not comfortable' (40 per cent) or are concerned about data security (35 per cent).
