Leading US banks are not just going digital; they are realizing that digital savings and loans alone do not ensure sustained engagement or profitability. These services must connect to the banks' core strengths: trust, scale, and long-term financial relationships.
"These incidents involve the intentional use of deceptive or illegal practices to fraudulently obtain money, assets, or information from individuals or institutions, and include actions carried out over cyber channels."
The ease of use means the ease of stealing. There are pieces of software and devices that are doing exactly the same thing that a point of sale does and it's transacting on your phone or on your credit card and if you don't have a thumbprint or a biometric on your phone, they can walk up and if you're not paying attention in a crowded area, they get close enough and they touch your phone they can do a transaction.
Last month, I sat across from one of the brightest people I know as he explained how he'd lost nearly everything to a sophisticated scam. This wasn't some naive teenager or technophobe. This was my friend from university days, a retired executive who'd navigated corporate politics for decades and made shrewd investment decisions his whole life. Watching him piece together how it happened was like watching someone solve a puzzle in reverse.
One of the most loathed antagonists among the works of William Shakespeare is his Shylock loan shark from The Merchant of Venice. While modern interpretations have focused more on his being a victim of anti-Semitism, Shylock's loan shark activities were influenced by Shakespeare's own father, John. John Shakespeare was a glovemaker, real estate speculator, and farmer, whose business dealings occasionally landed him in court with charges of usury. The legal limit in Stratford at the time was 10%, and John Shakespeare frequently charged 20%.
