The financial services industry has major reputational issues. Woeful customer service, poor products, boardroom greed and more besides.
But there is a bigger problem bubbling away that the industry needs to tackle head on unless it wants customer confidence to plunge to new depths. It is fraud.
As our special report this week highlights, financial fraud is now being committed on an industrial scale and the fraudsters have the upper hand.
The Mail on Sunday believes financial services companies must do much more to protect customers from these criminals. It means spending money on bulletproof IT systems and devoting more resources to tracking down the fraudsters so that they can then be incarcerated.
Over the coming weeks, we are going to shine the spotlight on this financial cancer in the hope that companies start upping their game. They need to do more to protect our personal details and our money from fraudsters.
Protection insurance should be an essential part of every household’s financial armoury.
Although nobody buys it in the hope of making a claim, its role is to provide a financial comfort blanket if illness or, God forbid, death strikes.
The insurance comes in many shapes and sizes – and is sometimes offered as a company perk. But its purpose, whether it is dressed up as critical illness, income protection or life insurance, is to pay an income – upfront or on a regular basis…..
More: JEFF PRESTRIDGE: Banks MUST raise their game on fraud | This is Money