One-Third of Financial Firms Lack Clear Plan to Address Privacy Risks, Accenture Report Finds
March 16 2020 - 7:01AM
Business Wire
Privacy executives should look beyond just
compliance and focus on elevating the customer experience
One-third of financial services organizations lack a clear plan
or the resources to address privacy risks related to customer data
in the next 12 months, according to a new report by Accenture
(NYSE: ACN).
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How financial services firms are handling
data privacy (Graphic: Business Wire)
The report — “Privacy in Financial Services: Stature and
Sustainability in the Information Age” — is based on a survey of
100 privacy executives in the banking, insurance and capital
markets sectors in North America and Europe. It focuses on how
companies should rethink how they use, store and protect customer
data as recently implemented regulations, including the General
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer
Privacy Act (CCPA), give consumers explicit privacy rights.
According to the report, seven in 10 respondents (70%) see
privacy as a key risk for their firms, increasing the need for a
clear privacy strategy. Noting that nearly three-quarters (72%) of
respondents’ companies use consent to tailor customer-facing
products and services, the report suggests that financial services
firms incorporate privacy into the overall customer journey by
giving customers more control over their data and deleting personal
information upon request.
“Given the renewed regulatory focus and threat of significant
financial fines, it’s not surprising that financial services firms
are making privacy a top priority,” said Ben Shorten, a managing
director in Accenture’s Strategy & Consulting group. “But these
institutions should think beyond the compliance risks and consider
the broader opportunity to elevate the customer experience around
privacy. Consumers are willing to share information if there’s
value in it for them, whether personalized offers, better services
or more competitive pricing. Firms that understand how customers
perceive and value data privacy have a clear opportunity to
differentiate themselves.”
When asked which privacy risks will require the most effort to
remediate over the next year, respondents most often cited privacy
risk monitoring (51%), the accuracy and maintenance of records
processing/ information asset registers (44%), and records
management and data retention/deletion (41%).
These risks are heightened by the “right to erasure” requests
under GDPR and CCPA, which empower consumers to ask companies to
delete their personal data upon request, making proper records
management critical. One way that firms can achieve this, according
to the report, is by using automated tools to aid with data
discovery.
The report notes that while three-fourths (76%) of respondents
plan to increase their privacy investments over the next year,
companies without a clear privacy strategy could fail to reap the
expected value from these investments — while those that create
clear strategies and infuse a culture of privacy awareness across
their organizations will differentiate themselves and build
consumer trust.
In addition, as firms increasingly focus on demonstrating
ethical and responsible use of data in their artificial
intelligence and machine-learning algorithms, a new class of
privacy risks related to data ethics could emerge. This presents
another opportunity for firms to build consumer trust by providing
greater transparency around automated decisioning models and
introducing ethical guide rails for the use of personal data.
About the Study
“Privacy in Financial Services: Stature and Sustainability in
the Information Age” was based on an online survey of 100 privacy
executives at banks, insurance companies and capital markets firms
across North America and Europe (Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Spain, Switzerland, U.K. and U.S). The survey was conducted by
Accenture Research in December 2019 and January 2020.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company,
providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting,
interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities
across all of these services. We combine unmatched experience and
specialized capabilities across more than 40 industries – powered
by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and
Intelligent Operations centers. With 505,000 people serving clients
in more than 120 countries, Accenture brings continuous innovation
to help clients improve their performance and create lasting value
across their enterprises. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
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Michael McGinn Accenture +1 917 452 9458
m.mcginn@accenture.com
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