A quarter of customers who regularly shop, pay and bank online do not trust any organisation with their personal information.
According to a survey of 1,000 UK consumers by information security and risk management company Integralis, banks are the organisations that are most trusted with data, with 65% of respondents believing that their personal data is safe with them. But the ‘trust factor’ drops by nearly half for online retailers (36%) and insurance companies (34%), while it tumbles by two-thirds for supermarkets to just 24%.
This is despite 79% of customers banking online and more than half buying groceries on the internet at least once a week.
While nearly two-thirds (63%) of consumers trust their banks the most when doing financial transactions online, 22% favour online payment systems such as PayPal above other options, and fewer than one in 10 trust a credit card provider the most.
Mick Ebsworth, information security consulting practice director at Integralis, said: “What businesses should be concerned about is this intrinsic lack of trust by customers in online companies they are using on a regular basis. Even the banking sector, which comes out top of the ‘trust factor’, should wake up to the fact that some users do not trust their banks to look after their personal data online.”
Sally Percy is editor of The Treasurer