ESET has revealed that over two-thirds of business leaders (68%) expect their company’s investment in FinTech to increase in 2021/2022. This comes as 81% of senior managers surveyed agree that COVID-19 has increased the need for improved security of finances.
The company has explored the attitudes of senior managers towards financial technology (FinTech) and security in the business segment of its global FinTech research, surveying 1200 senior managers in a variety of industries across the UK, US, Japan and Mexico. One of the key areas the survey focused on was predictions concerning threats and attitudes towards financial technology post-pandemic, especially in light of the widespread effects COVID-19 has already had on the global economy.
The research reveals that 42% of business leaders believe cybercrime and a coronavirus lockdown are equal threats to the security of their business’s finances. Companies with over 1000 employees were more likely to believe cybercrime to be a bigger threat, whereas businesses with less than 50 employees saw the impact of coronavirus lockdowns as a larger threat. This likely reflects the toll that COVID-19 has had on small businesses, which have fewer resources to help them deal with the current situation.
In terms of business focus post-pandemic, however, one-third of businesses (32%) said securing data will be their biggest financial technology priority, followed closely by improving efficiency (28%). Business leaders were also asked about the specific technologies that could help to secure finances post-COVID. The most popular answers were payment/credit card fraud detection (54%) and identify theft monitoring (50%).
Ignacio Sbampato, Chief Business Officer at ESET, said, “Ensuring businesses’ data is safe and secure is a core part of ESET’s mission, and with much of the world in a struggling economic situation, it is more important than ever that businesses and their finances are protected with the very best in cybersecurity solutions. In order to protect our users and their financial future, we embarked on the FinTech research project as a way to understand what businesses’ priorities and attitudes are. Our findings reveal that businesses remain security-focused and most are willing to invest in order to protect themselves from potential threats.”
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