Four fifths of Brits say government is failing to do a good job fighting fraud

NAPLES, FLA – January 21, 2013 – Four fifths (80 per cent) of Brits think that government and law enforcement agencies only do an average or below average job of fighting card or account fraud, according to research from ACI Worldwide. Meanwhile, nine in ten (90 per cent) of UK consumers say they have confidence in their financial institution to protect them from card fraud.

A notable minority – 16 per cent – of people say the government is doing a very bad or poor job when it comes to fighting card or account fraud. Two thirds (64 per cent) say ministers are doing an average job. Just a fifth (21 per cent) say they are doing a good or excellent job.

However, the UK government is doing better than some of its European peers. Over a third (36 per cent) of Italian consumers think their government is doing a very bad or poor job in fighting card or account fraud, followed by 31 per cent of Germans, 30 per cent of French people, 28 per cent of Swedes, and 22 per cent of the Dutch.

The picture worsens globally with higher proportions of people saying their governments are not doing enough to stop card and account fraud:
• Mexico: 55 per cent
• South Africa: 47 per cent
• Brazil: 41 per cent
• Indonesia: 41 per cent
• China: 33 per cent
• United States: 26 per cent

This comes at a time when EU authorities have estimated payment card fraud losses in Europe are in the region of €1.5 billion a year[i].

“It is promising to see that the majority of British consumers trust banks to protect them from card fraud,” said Mike Braatz senior vice president, fraud solutions, ACI Worldwide. “Being the victim of fraud is very stressful, leaving people short of money at crucial moments and leading to lengthy claims processes. It is testament to the way most banks detect and halt fraud that people feel they are in safe hands. Unfortunately, it seems that consumers think the UK government is not doing enough to fight card or account fraud. While the UK does have a robust fraud strategy, these findings underline the importance Brits place on fraud detection and protection.”

Methodology
ACI Worldwide, a global leader in electronic payments for financial institutions, retailers, and processors, conducted online quantitative market research via a survey of consumers in July and August 2012.The study was conducted in a total of 17 countries across the following regions:
• The Americas (North and South America): Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States
• EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa): France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom
• The Asia-Pacific: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, and Singapore

In total, 5,223 consumers were included in the research: approximately 300 consumers, divided equally between men and women, participated in each of the 17 countries. Of the total, 5,114 own one or more type of payment card (i.e. credit card, debit card, prepaid debit card); in this report, the data related to card fraud focuses on these cardholders.

In each country, the data has a margin of error of approximately 5 points. Statistical tests of significance, where shown, were conducted at the 95 percent level of confidence.

About ACI Worldwide
ACI Worldwide powers electronic payments and banking for more than 1,650 financial institutions, retailers and processors around the world. ACI software enables $12 trillion in payments each day, processing transactions for 14 of the leading global retailers, and 24 of the world’s 25 largest banks. Through our integrated suite of software products and hosted services, we deliver a broad range of solutions for payments processing, card and merchant management, online banking, mobile, branch and voice banking, fraud detection, and trade finance. To learn more about ACI and the reasons why our solutions are trusted globally, please visit www.aciworldwide.com. You can also find us on www.paymentsinsights.com or on Twitter @ACI_Worldwide.