A survey by leading Regtech provider, Equiniti, has found that as many as 11.7 million Brits could have been victims of financial cybercrime.

The independent research, carried out in partnership with YouGov, polled 2,100 people about their attitudes to mobile banking. The sample was weighted to be representative of the UK adult population, and revealed that 24% have experienced financial cybercrime in their lifetime. 

The figures support the latest experimental data¹ released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which found that around 1 in 10 consumers have experienced financial cybercrime in the last year. Marrying the two figures appears to point to a mushrooming problem.  

Banking via a smartphone or tablet was found to be the most popular banking method, confirming industry statistics. 48% of the nation use a mobile banking app and more than a third (35%) use the app at least once a week, most typically to check account balances, transfer money or make payments. 

However, whilst the poll found that there is a real appetite for mobile banking users to use their smartphone or table to conduct even more services traditionally carried out in branch, such as cancel direct debits, set up/cancel standing orders and even apply for loans, they want financial providers to up the ante on security services.

Half of consumers wanted to receive a notification alerting them to potential fraudulent activity surrounding their account and 52% of consumers feel thumb/fingerprint identification would make mobile banking more secure, with face recognition being second in terms of a potential security development (32%). 

Liam McGrath, Chief Operating Officer, Equiniti, said, “Mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets have become ingrained in our daily lives yet as the popularity of these devices explodes, the appetite of cybercriminals targeting these devices has grown too. We can see from this research that there is a real appetite for mobile banking, and for consumers to extend their use of these apps for more services, but a perceived lack of security is holding them back. Encouragingly, many financial services organisations are already working to make their customers feel more secure by implementing biometric capabilities as facial, voice or fingerprint into their mobile banking services.”