Many in retirement are travelling comfortably, with three key factors contributing to their happiness – good physical and mental health and enough money to enjoy life.
Perhaps the assumption that markets are still anchored by predictable economic policies needs to be challenged. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, political volatility – once background noise – is potentially reshaping investment risk at a structural level.
Seniors to benefit from platforms ‘upping the ante’ on cyber security
Platforms are refining the balance between security and convenience in what is a direct response to heightened concerns about fraud, according to the research house Investment Trends’ 2024 Platform Competitive Analysis & Benchmarking Report.
The banks and financial service providers are under mounting pressure to strengthen their scam and fraud protections with the Federal Government demanding greater vigilance via the Cyber Security Act that became law in November 2024.
The legislation, which addresses gaps in Australia’s cyber security, includes measures to mandate minimum cyber-security standards for smart devices; introduces a mandatory ransomware and cyber extortion reporting obligation; encourages industry engagement with government following cyber incidents; and establishes a Cyber Incident Review Board to conduct reviews of significant cyber incidents.
ASIC is also ramping up its role in this space, recently writing to superannuation trustees urging them to strengthen their anti-scam practices. The open letter, signed by commissioner Simone Constant (pictured), outlines the regulator’s guidance for super trustees to prevent, detect and respond to scams and fraud activity.
The letter follows an ASIC review of 15 superannuation trustees that found none had an organisation-wide scams strategy in place.
That there is heightened concern in government and regulatory circles is hardly surprising. Since January 2024, Australians have lost $318 million to scams (of which individuals aged 65+ comprised 44 per cent of the losses), so it was inevitable that platforms would respond to both adviser expectations and regulatory pressures.
For retirees, this legislative and regulatory response could not come sooner. As the 44 per cent figure highlights, they are a go-to target for scammers, especially when it’s considered that while they comprise nearly half the total losses, they only account for 25 per cent of the reported scams, suggesting the losses figure is understated.
Investment Trends’ finance & research director Paul McGivern says security, particularly cyber-security, has become a huge focus for the platforms in the past few years – but it still needs to be balanced with convenience.
“From an adviser’s perspective, they want to be able to have great confidence in the platforms that they’re using and be able convey that to their clients.”
Citing examples of Macquarie’s authentication for payments exceeding $2,000, BT’s biometric security and HUB24’s CyberHUB, he says these platforms are doing “great work” educating advisers about improvements to security.
“Everyone’s very happy today to work in a two-factor authentication (2FA) world. It’s just the number of checkpoints that you would have in the advice process and the management of a client’s portfolio to ensure that there are no unauthorised transactions happening, but, at the same time, it’s not interfering in the advice process,” he says.
How the platforms have responded:
• BT Panorama has updated its mobile app for iOS and Android to include 2FA. Biometrics such as face ID or fingerprint are used to authenticate the log in to the app.
• Macquarie Wrap mandated authentication for both advisers and clients for payments over $2,000. It also introduced a new feature in its Macquarie authenticator to protect clients from fraudsters impersonating trusted institutions by prompting verification at the start of any call with Macquarie. It is also educating clients and their advisers on how to protect themselves from fraudulent activity such as business emails being compromised and remote access, impersonation and buyer/seller scams.
• North has implemented 2FA for all user types.
• HUB24’s CyberHUB contains dedicated materials to help advisers overcome emerging cybersecurity issues.
