Banking

Modern consumers have become used to a plethora of easy pay options when transacting. One doesn’t think twice about using their phone or smartwatch to pay for their morning coffee after a workout session at the gym. Contactless payments (such as tapping your card or using your smartphone or smartwatch at a point of sale (POS) machine), are becoming increasingly popular due to the convenience they offer. However, with convenience comes great responsibility and the need for consumers to be more alert and aware as this payment method, like any other platform or area where money or the transfer of money is concerned, is also susceptible to fraud.

In January 2025, the global anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), will review its decision to greylist South Africa and interrogate the public and private sector measures to address its concerns. The country will need to demonstrate a practical, scalable plan to combat money laundering, fraud and other financial crimes.

Although banks appear to be making greater efforts to resolve some types of consumer disputes internally, banking fraud related to current accounts and internet banking remains high on the list of complaints to the Ombud for Banking Services South Africa (OBS). Two other categories of complaints, while still relatively low but on the Ombud’s radar, are delays in finalising deceased estates and the collection of debt that has prescribed or expired. Meanwhile, the OBS managed to recover more than R30 million for consumers last year, about R10 million more than in 2021.

As grim as it was, the pandemic of recent years, and its resultant global economic crisis, were a prime catalyst for record number of first-time bank users, the previously unbanked. This global phenomenon has been covered extensively, with banks reporting significantly higher growth rates for new entry level bank accounts by first time bank users. Trellix South Africa County Lead Carlo Bolzonello urges financial institutions to consider the cybersecurity threat these novices are likely to face.

The need for trust within the banking sector has, in recent years, never been more important than it is today. Recent times have seen the South African banking public being exposed to news of bank failures elsewhere and if that was not enough worry for the consumers, their stresses are further aggravated by their inability to meet their repayment obligations to their creditors brought about by the rising global cost of living crisis and the ongoing energy crisis.

Africa’s fintech industry is booming, driven by the rapid penetration of Internet access and the digitisation of businesses across the continent. Using data and analytics for innovation and decision-making have proven to be critical in harnessing the opportunities unfolding in the African banking and payments sector.

Over the past two years, the Covid-19 Pandemic has disrupted the traditional banking model, testing it to its limit. Banks are battling to address this. Reana Steyn, the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) points out that 2021 brought with it some serious financial challenges for most South African banking consumers.

Traditional bricks-and-mortar banks have been heavily disrupted by the emergence of digital banking in South Africa. These new entrants into the market have the advantage of being ‘born digital’, without the years of legacy that the big four banks have.

Although already on a steep adoption curve, Covid has fast tracked many organisations’ digital payments strategies. QR codes in particular are finding favour amongst major South African banks. Capitec’s most recent peer2peer (P2P) account-based payment offering is the latest that Entersekt has helped roll out. And the company says the payment method is likely to continue gaining traction both locally and abroad.

A holographic device that provides improved protection for banknotes against the risk of counterfeiting, has won an international award organised by industry trade body, IHMA.

Rapidly changing customer expectations and steadily increasing competition within the banking sector are forcing financial institutions to digitalise their operations, while at the same time ensuring that they humanise their digital experience to gain a competitive edge.

South Africa is in the middle of one of the most trying times in the country’s history. Unemployment was on the rise which will only worsen in the aftermath of the current situation. In addition, tensions are boiling over, turning into violent acts of destruction, which are currently disrupting society. This includes bank ATM’s and branches.

Banking Trojans or ‘bankers’ are one of the most widespread tools for cybercriminals as they focus on stealing money.

The infamous Ginp banking Trojan, which acquired the ability to insert fake text messages into the inbox of a regular SMS app back in March, has now acquired a new functionality—one that takes advantage of the recent pandemic.  

SABRIC, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, on behalf of the banking industry, has confirmed that as of Wednesday 23 October 2019, the banking industry has been hit by a wave of ransom-driven Distributed Denial of Service attacks, targeting various public-facing services across multiple banks.

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By Felix Antonysamy In the South African context, financial services companies have been slow in adoption of cloud services however, the last year or two...

SABRIC, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, has released its annual crime stats for 2018 on behalf of the banking industry. “We are concerned about some of the increases, which clearly reflect that criminals will take every opportunity to get their hands on bank customers’ money,” says SABRIC CEO, Kalyani Pillay.

Of course, in reality, bank robberies cause a lot of damage, stress and injury, let alone the financial losses. Hikvision has all kinds of state-of-the-art technology to provide a full security solution for the banking industry – from the lobby to the vault deep within the bank’s walls.