A fifth (20%) of IFAs do not have protective measures against fraud and scams in place, leaving them at risk of an incident or attack, new research from global research and insights agency Opinium reveals.
In addition, just over one in three IFAs (35%) report being subjected to scam and fraud threats, with slightly fewer than a third (31%) having experienced an increase in attempts to compromise their businesses in the past year. Despite this, one in three respondents (35%) do not currently train their staff in how to spot potential threats and protect themselves and the business.
In spite of this, the research also revealed that IFAs report feeling more concerned about scam and fraud attacks (25%) than they are about their organisation’s future strategy (21%) and the quality of their service (13%).
Tech sector should help protect businesses
Just over half of advisers (56%) claim that innovations within the tech industry would be one of the top ways to help battle the increase of online scams and fraud attacks towards their businesses.
Furthermore, when asked to select the three biggest priorities, half (53%) believe having access to more sophisticated technology would help combat attacks. Whereas, only a fifth (21%) believe that the best approach would be to train their staff to be more resilient towards attacks.
Matt Howlett, Senior Research Executive at Opinium commented: “With fraud and scam attacks on the rise, now is a better time than ever to start plotting defence strategies. It’s clear that advisers feel concern about the risk of fraud – with it ranking as a bigger worry than the future strategy of their organisation for some IFAs. While tech innovations are the long-term goal, building resilience to scams and fraud now by training staff can help fight the fires in the meantime.”
