CSConnect 2019: Lloyds head says tech firms don’t get enough heat for banking app glitches
Lloyd’s head of IT risk & governance Ameet Jugnauth says “technology firms are not getting the same level of scrutiny and heat” when it comes to banking app downtime as financial services organisations do.
“We’re either in this together or we’re not,” Jugnauth tells FinTech Futures on his thoughts regarding the UK Treasury’s call for regulators to hold banks to account for “unacceptable” amounts of IT failures in the financial industry.
Lloyds head calls for joint responsibility on app IT failures.
The Lloyds head has no doubt that “to have that [government] attention on it is the right thing”, but feels there is definitely a “quirk” in the way culpability is currently distributed. “Most people have broadband at home,” he says, “and if your broadband goes down for a couple of hours you’re annoyed, but it’s not the same impact.
“If you look at technology companies and the risk impact they have to assess, it’s very different from when a banking app goes down where within minutes it’s on Twitter and yet, it’s the same technology that we’re dependent on”.
This call for joint responsibility on a company side prompts Jugnauth to make firm his belief that “we’re a long way from blaming the customers now”.
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Unlike Nationwide’s director of payments John Hutton, who told FinTech Futures when customers think their app is down it generally isn’t – rather, their data is switched off or they haven’t updated their app.
On the similar topic of the UK Treasury’s call for banks to reimburse customers victim of authorised push payment (APP) fraud on their platform, Jugnauth says he was asked by someone whether the customer would ever be penalised if it’s their fault.
“As a customer myself, I expect to be protected,” Jugnauth says simply, again reiterating his belief that whatever the actions of the customer, we are beyond the days where companies can put the blame on them.
On the rise of customer-centricity, the Lloyds head says “if we don’t have it there isn’t a reason for us to be here”.
When asked of what he thinks about the digital race established banks like Lloyds are often pitted in against neobanks such as Revolut and Monzo, Jugnauth asks the question: “What happens if a risk materialises?” He goes on: “The challenger banks have not necessarily been through a rough ride yet,” citing the 2007-8 financial crisis which has tested all large, well-established financial institutions’ survival instincts.
“Would they sustain an event like the financial crisis?”, he asks, the answer to which we shall have to wait and see.
Jugnauth is excited to see the progress of societal change and its impact on digital banking, as “people relate to the world very differently now”, from entering a bank branch ten years ago during opening hours to going on their app in the early hours of the morning.
Fis fidelity information services controls most banking technology in North America. Canada and United States. Most banks outsource their technology to Fis
A monopoly which takes no responsibility for downtime etc. us regulators are concerned with Facebook but real monopoly which could destroy the entire economy