TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 25. The rapid growth of digital payments is accompanied by an expansion of the risk landscape, making customer education and awareness increasingly important for financial security, Nikolai Belstein, Senior Director of Consulting and Analytics at Visa CEMEA, said, Trend’s special correspondent reports from Tashkent.
He made the remarks while speaking at the Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum.
According to Belstein, the increase in digital payment volumes means that financial service providers need to pay greater attention to managing associated risks. “The amount of digital payments has been growing, meaning that the threat landscape has also doubled, so the risk is also doubled. That’s the main problem,” he said.
He noted that service providers, issuers and banks share responsibility for managing these risks, while regulators also play an important role. “We as all the service providers, issuers, banks, etc., have to accept, and we should manage this risk in an appropriate way,” Belstein said.
At the same time, he identified customer behavior and awareness as one of the main challenges facing the digital payments ecosystem. “The main issues and challenges which the ecosystem is currently facing, it’s not about the payment systems or ecosystem itself. It’s more about the weakest part — us, as human beings,” he said.
According to Belstein, greater investment in financial education and customer awareness could help prevent a significant share of fraud-related incidents. “The main message is that we should focus heavily on education and awareness of our customers,” he said.
He recommended that customers verify suspicious requests directly with their banks before proceeding with a transaction. “If you really think that it is kind of okay, please double-check. Just make a call back to the bank and ask whether it is really a legitimate person,” Belstein said.
