Identity and access management (IAM) is an important element of any IT security system and is one of the security areas that users interact with the most. With a reputation for being able to manage access for corporate resources, IAM empower banks and financial institutions across the globe with the capabilities to deliver easy and convenient experiences for customers. Activities such as paying the bills, checking account details and the application for credit card and loans have been digitalised and brought on the go through mobile applications and devices, all through the aid of IAM that fuels such app-driven mobile activities.

In the industry of financial services and banking institutions, it is mandatory to adhere to regulatory requirements across complex IT security systems. The financial services industry has to keep up with new national and global industry regulations such as the EU’s GDPR, BaFin, SOX, Basel II, and Solvency II. There has been an increasing number of financial supervisory authorities all over the world who make it compulsory for banks and financial services organisations to own and adopt systems that make sure that access rights are both appropriately assigned and recertified. Maintaining regulatory compliance is one of the crucial factors in building a strong company image and reputation, developing and garnering trust from potential customers, without sacrificing the ease and convenience of access to applications and services. By securing mobile applications, financial services companies can reduce the risk of unauthorised access to highly sensitive information such as credit card details, financial transaction, and other confidential personal information. As financial services firms are major targets for hackers and cyber terrorists, such valuable and sensitive data falling into the wrong malicious hands could spell out trouble, with financial fraud, the distribution of malware and identity theft being three of the most serious concerns for both companies and consumers. With a robust IAM program, banks can defend and prevent attacks, while being able to meet the demands of the industry.

IAM has become the leading solution for financial institutions as a result of what they can provide to the complex IT environment of the banking sector. An IAM solution that is flexible and designed to meet financial needs provides user authentication that will not impact customers’ experiences, while ensuring that multiple users are integrated in a secure way. Beyond the provision of data exchange, IAM also offers support for cloud-based services of a dynamic nature. Moreover, the implementation of single sign-on (SSO) allows security risks to be mitigated and enhances user experiences without compromising the integrity of user data.

Another significant advantage that IAM solutions can offer financial institutions is the ability to provide a comprehensive range of reporting and analytics features, empowering banks to proactively document and monitor usage. These features assist in collecting information about application utilization, inactive users and login activity. Aside from identifying users with weak login credentials and gaining insight from customer profiles, financial services firms are able to have auditable paper trails to meet the needs of regulatory compliance.