Many large banking companies are using e-mail to contact customers, despite the ongoing threat of phishers, which have led many consumers to be wary of messages from banks, according to a survey Aite Group LLC released Wednesday.
In the survey of 18 major banking companies conducted from January through March, 56% said they offer e-mail alerts, and another 39% said they plan to do so in the next two years. The companies that offer alerts said they expect 32% of their online banking customers to use them by the end of next year, versus 12% now.
"Banks are not neglecting the e-mail channel," even though phishers continue to send out millions of fake messages, Nick Holland, a senior analyst with Aite, wrote in a report on the survey's findings. Many companies have found that e-mail has become "increasingly trustworthy."
However, this attitude may not reflect the views of the entire banking industry, the report found.
The survey's participants "represented larger U.S. banks and credit unions, which are likely to have already suffered from early phishing attacks and which have since embarked on high-profile efforts to eradicate the problem and, more importantly, to educate and rebuild trust in end users," Mr. Holland wrote. "Only 20% of FDIC member institutions in the U.S. are using authentication technologies for e-mail, compared with more than 50% of Fortune 500" companies.
