GFT, the digital transformation firm, has published its bi-annual assessment of consumer sentiment towards digital banking. It has revealed that consumers feel uncertain about the reliability of digital financial services, as the availability of in-person banking continues to decline.
Despite digital banking growing rapidly and becoming the norm, 34 per cent of Brits are worried about the potential of IT failures at their banks. As such, 25 per cent of adults now have cash on their person in case of an emergency finds GFT in its latest Banking Disruption Index.
After the major CrowdStrike outage this year, many Brits have become cautious of IT failures. In fact, 17 per cent admitted they have been affected by IT failures within their banks that made them unable to access their funds or pay for essential goods and services.
The research also uncovered growing concern about the security and resiliency of third-party technology providers supporting banks. Thirty-eight per cent of respondents said they were worried about the potential of these organisations to cause an IT outage at a bank, highlighting a broader scepticism around the security and reliability of outsourced digital services.
Banks’ responsibility to protect consumer data and access to funds
Furthermore, 42 per cent of those surveyed said they were wary of cyber-attacks, fearing that an outage could lead to personal information theft. This underscores the growing expectation for banks to protect both consumer data and access to funds.
As digital banking continues to grow, so do consumer concerns about security and reliability. In response, banks are under increased pressure to strengthen their resilience strategies, ensure operational stability, and better safeguard customers.
To meet these expectations, financial institutions must continue to invest in robust IT infrastructure and cybersecurity measures, and partner with trusted organisations to effectively prevent and swiftly recover from outages.
Richard Kalas, client solutions director, GFT
What’s more, under recent Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) guidelines effective from 7 October, banks must now refund fraud victims up to £85,000 within five days. By shifting a significant portion of responsibility back to banks, the regulation reinforces the importance of customer protection and proactive fraud prevention.
Richard Kalas, client solutions director, retail banking at GFT said: “These findings reveal a clear disconnect between the rapid digitalisation of banking services and consumer confidence around the security and resilience of these measures. While digital banking offers numerous benefits, it’s essential that banks continue to clearly demonstrate the various measures they are taking to ensure all critical customer services are resilient.“
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