Fraudulent activity has not affected Internet banking in T&T but one local bank has already taken steps to protect its customers, including educating them on how to safeguard against such breaches.
"It is a reality of the business. We have to invest in protecting against it and educating our clients against it as well," RBC Royal Bank managing director Daryl White said yesterday.
White, who is also president of the Bankers Association of T&T (BATT), spoke to reporters after delivering opening remarks at a workshop on Fraud Awareness in the Workplace hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce of T&T in partnership with the BATT at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre.
He said fraud was one of the risks which came with the business of banking and it could not be avoided.
"The question is how do you manage the risk? It is about knowing your customer, managing the risk by putting in procedures and verifying what's happening. We can be vigilant. The first line of defence is the customer."
Commenting on the outlook for the banking sector, White said: "Banks grow as the economy grows. The outlook for growth for the economy this year is around two per cent.
"There is a huge amount of liquidity still. If you look at the Central Bank's statistics there is less lending going on to a large extent. Loan to deposit ratio has actually been going down in terms of how much people are borrowing compared to how much is deposited. There is a lot of savings in the economy."
He is predicting that banks will continue to have steady but good returns but added: "I don't think it will be off the charts because the environment isn't there for it to be off-the-charts. That's how banks are built. We are built to go through good times, great times and decent times now."
Yesterday's workshop featured presentation by Sgt Damien Thomas and Insp Rishi Singh of the Fraud Squad and Antonio Ventour, manager, Fraud Management and Corporate Investigations at RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited.