Boston, MA, USA September 4, 2001 Identity Theft: Impact on the Financial Services IndustryCelent estimates that US financial institutions will lose in excess of US$8 billion annually within the next three years In a new report entitled "Identity Theft and Its Effect on the Financial Services Industry," Celent Communications examines the rapidly growing cases of identity theft and its impact on the financial services industry. As the fastest growing white-collar crime in the US, identity theft threatens to cause significant damage to financial institutions' bottom line. Unless financial institutions take a more active role in reversing this trend, financial losses stemming from identity theft will continue to increase at an alarming rate. According to Sang Lee, the author of the report, "While identity theft has existed prior to the advent of the Internet, there is no question that in recent years, criminals of taken advantage of all the readily available confidential information on the Internet. We expect that losses to financial institutions due to identity fraud will exceed US$8 billion by 2004." He goes onto add that "While identity theft cannot be completely eliminated, there are steps that financial institutions and consumers can take to minimize the chances for identity theft-related crimes. It is in the interest of the financial institutions to spend the necessary time and money to implement procedures to limit confidential customer information leaks internally, as well as to educate the consumers regarding the dangers of identity theft."A Table of Contents is available online. | of Celent Communication's research services can download the report electronically by clicking on the icon to the left. |
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