For decades, financial institutions have competed on rates, products and customer service. New research suggests they may soon be competing on something else: cyber protection.
Norton research found three in four Australians (76%) would be more likely to choose one financial institution over another if it offered additional scam and cyber protection, assuming products and pricing were otherwise similar. Meanwhile, 70% say offering additional protection would increase their trust in a financial services provider.
These findings point to something bigger than growing concern about scams. They suggest Australians are beginning to view cyber protection as part of the financial service itself.
Just as customers expect institutions to safeguard their money, they're increasingly expecting them to help safeguard their digital lives.
That represents a significant shift for the financial services industry.
For years, scam prevention has largely been viewed through the lens of fraud management, compliance and risk. Those remain essential priorities, but customer expectations are evolving. Increasingly, cyber protection is becoming part of the overall customer experience and an important driver of trust.
Our research found 89% of Australians believe organisations that handle their money or personal information should do more to help protect customers from scams and cybercrime. More than four in five (83%) also expect more from these organisations than they did just five years ago.
For financial institutions, this isn't simply another compliance challenge. It's a changing customer expectation.
Trust now extends beyond the transaction
Scams rarely begin inside a banking app.
They're far more likely to start with a convincing text message, a fake investment website, an AI-generated phone call or an impersonation email long before a customer logs into their account.
By the time a fraudulent transaction occurs, the deception has often been underway for hours or even days.
Consumers recognise this. They're no longer looking solely for reimbursement after something goes wrong. Increasingly, they expect financial institutions to help them avoid becoming victims in the first place.
The survey reflects this shift. Australians most expect financial institutions to provide reimbursement guarantees for scam losses (70%), scam detection technology within banking apps (64%) and real-time scam alerts and warnings (44%). Around one in five also expect access to broader cyber protection for their devices and families.
The opportunity for financial institutions is to think beyond transaction monitoring and consider how they can support customers across the broader digital journey where scams increasingly occur.
A shared responsibility
Another interesting finding is that Australians don't believe protecting them from scams is solely the responsibility of banks.
While banks remain the organisation consumers most expect to help protect them (86%), respondents also identified government (60%), payment providers (60%), telecommunications companies (46%) and technology companies (43%) as playing an important role. Advisers, mortgage brokers, insurers and accountants were also recognised as having responsibilities.
This reflects how interconnected today's scam landscape has become.
Customers move across multiple organisations, platforms and digital services during a typical financial journey. They don't distinguish where the scam started or who technically owned that interaction. Instead, they expect trusted organisations to work together to help keep them safe.
For advisers and brokers, this presents an opportunity to reinforce the trusted role they already play.
While clients don't expect advisers to become cybersecurity experts, they increasingly value partners who recognise digital safety as part of overall financial wellness. Conversations around protecting wealth are naturally expanding to include protecting digital identities, personal information and online interactions.
Customer protection is becoming a business differentiator
Competition across financial services has traditionally centred on products, pricing and customer experience.
Cyber protection is increasingly joining that list.
Institutions that help customers navigate online risks are likely to strengthen trust, improve customer loyalty and create another meaningful point of differentiation in an increasingly competitive market.
The organisations that succeed won't necessarily be those that simply respond fastest after fraud occurs. They'll be those that help customers avoid becoming victims in the first place.
Embedding protection into the customer experience
This is where a more integrated approach to cyber protection becomes increasingly relevant.
Rather than expecting customers to source and manage separate cybersecurity products themselves, financial institutions have an opportunity to embed scam and identity protection directly into their existing digital experiences.
Norton Embedded Solutions offers a suite of embeddable scam and identity protection services that partners can integrate into mobile and desktop experiences, with configurable dashboards, alerts and support built into the customer journey. These capabilities include AI-powered scam detection, proactive email scanning, social media monitoring, dark web monitoring and identity protection services designed to alert consumers to suspicious activity before financial harm occurs. Norton being part of Gen means the technology has access to a combined 500M customer base which is one of the largest consumer threat intelligence networks available.
There are already examples of this approach in Australia. A leading credit bureau has partnered with Norton to integrate identity monitoring into their consumer offerings, helping customers detect compromised personal information and reduce the risk of identity theft and downstream fraud.
As customer expectations continue to evolve, financial institutions have an opportunity to view cyber protection not simply as a compliance obligation, but as another way to strengthen trust, deliver value and build longer-term customer relationships.
Learn more about how Norton can help integrate solutions to protect your customers
