KUALA LUMPUR: One in three Malaysians will stop or reduce the use of existing financial accounts if the identity verification experience is poor.

This is among the survey findings by global data analytics company FICO which found that Malaysians placed high value in good fraud protection when selecting new financial accounts.

FICO said nearly two in three (64 per cent of respondents) expect to answer 10 questions or less or they will abandon a personal bank account application.

One in three (33 per cent) will drop out if asked more than five questions

"Malaysian consumers show varying levels of patience for different account opening processes. They are most likely to abandon savings accounts (41 per cent) or personal bank accounts (39 per cent) applications due to complex or time-consuming identity checks."

In the past year, FICO said, half of Malaysians had noticed more identity checks when they log in to bank accounts (51 per cent) or make an online purchase (49 per cent).

"While Malaysians appreciate the convenience offered by digital banking services to open an account, a majority believe in-branch applications offer better security."

Three in four (77 per cent) Malaysians believe in-branch applications offer better security, less than half (44 per cent) identify security as a benefit of digital account applications via the provider's app, and close to two in five (38 per cent) via the provider's website.

  FICO senior director of decision management solutions Aashish Sharma said providing convenience and ease to consumers should not come at the cost of security and anti-fraud measures.

"The challenge lies in finding the sweet spot between security and convenience, especially for high value-products and interactions prone to risk. Consumers are looking for smarter onboarding processes and identity checks, not riskier processes.

"Banks can achieve this by leveraging technologies like improved identity verification, transaction history analysis, open banking and government databases to expedite the process without compromising security," Sharma said.

The survey was conducted in November 2023 by an independent research company adhering to research industry standards.

A total of 1,001 Malaysian adults were surveyed, along with about 12,000 other consumers in Canada, the US, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Thailand, the UK and Spain.

https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2024/07/1078070/1-3-malaysians-reject-bank-credit-card-applications-over-complex