FNB is insisting that its customers must access statements via digital channels, with fraud being the main driver behind the call. In recent years there has been a rise in attempts to defraud customers through email and post where fraudsters intercept bank statements containing confidential information. The bank also confirmed that in some cases, this results in identity theft where fraudsters impersonate victims or fabricate business communication, which lead to financial losses.
FNB has been on a journey to educate and provide customers with a safer, convenient and trusted platform, as evident here with the latest call being to encourage its customers and many other individuals to practice the culture of using digital channels where applicable especially when accessing sensitive documents.
Raj Makanjee, CEO of FNB Retail and Private Banking, says “We’ve solved for this vulnerability of confidential information by enabling our personal banking customers to access banking information via our digital channels at no additional charge. This includes bank account information, verified statements for up to 12 months, viewing and changing PINs, blocking and unblock cards. Our personal banking customers can download, view statements via FNB’s deposit taking ATMs, digital zones in our branches and cellphone banking. Fraudsters often target elderly customers and it’s for this reason that we are dedicating significant resources to educating and supporting our elderly customers to use safer channels in the comfort of their homes or inside our branches with human assistance from our teams,” says Makanjee.
The importance of safety is echoed by Gordon Little, CEO of FNB Commercial who says businesses are not immune to the threat of fraud via email or post, especially small businesses. “Unlike major corporates, SMEs do not have the human and financial resources to fight various forms of fraud like business email compromise which is very common. Hence, we encourage our clients to rather use our digital channels which offer world-class security to access their banking information through a trusted platform. In instances where a business transaction concerns a third-party, we encourage our business clients to always authenticate banking details directly with us or the corresponding bank,” he says.
Key to also note is FNB customers do not incur mobile data charges when using the Bank’s App (a little known fact) which is zero rated on all major network providers. That means that if you are an FNB customer then that means you will not be charged any fees to not only download or view your statements, but also view and change your PIN or to temporarily block a card via the Bank’s App.
