Three-quarters of companies select their banks according to security reputation while 88 per cent are willing to pay higher fees for banks with a proven security track record, according to research by Kapersky Lab.

The research found:

• 94% per cent of companies now use online banking in their day-to-day operations;
• 63% per cent of companies understand the risk of online financial fraud and the importance of implementing all possible security measures to protect their critical data;
• almost three quarters (72 per cent) of companies stated that they select banks due to their security reputation;
• almost nine out of 10 (88 per cent) are willing to pay extra in order to work with a bank that has a strong security policy and a good security track record;
• 43 per cent of companies also said that they themselves need to take improved measures, in order to protect online financial transactions made with their banks.

Ross Hogan, Kaspersky Lab's global head of fraud prevention, said: “In today’s technology driven environment, banks operate more like IT companies than financial institutions. All of their interactions with customers and partners are computerized and information is shared and stored online. However, despite the advantages it makes banking processes vulnerable and any compromise to the IT infrastructure can lead to huge data loss or, even worse, severe financial and reputational damage. It is therefore imperative that banks also think more like IT companies and make security a priority when developing and delivering their services.”

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CTMFile Take: Extremely interesting findings for both banks and corporates. How much extra are corporates really willing to pay for top-notch online security? It's true that, with huge costs associated with a cyber attack (according to Kapersky Lab, for an enterprise with more than 1,000 employees, the average cost of a data breach is $551,000), the answer could be 'quite a lot'. But only if banks can prove they are investing in the right IT security systems.