Better bank security scares off users? Oh well.

That was my first reaction to reading this just posted article on BBC.com. The specter is raised that tokens, one time passwords, and security questions are going to increase the friction involved in online banking and lead to customer dissatisfaction. My reaction? Oh well.

It is better for banks to work on fixing their customer experience than address fraud issues due to their lack of action. Read further down in the article which is admittedly disjointed (probably an editor trying to raise the appeal of the piece, they do that you know) and you learn something interesting:

In late 2005 the US Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued guidelines which forced banks to do more to protect online accounts.

Phishing statistics show a rapid move by the fraudsters to European banks and, said Mr Moloney, to smaller European banks using less protection.

Lists of phishing targets gathered by security companies show a huge shift away from big bank brands such as Citibank and Bank of America to Sparkasse, VolksBank and many others.

In other words, improved security is having an impact on phishing attacks! According to one source in the article online bank fraud descreased 67% while phishing attacks increased 40%. That is a tremendous justification of increased investment in security for banks. Keep it up!