Which?, a non-profit consumer protection organisation, has rated 16 of the biggest UK banks on the security of their online banking systems.
Tesco Bank, TSB, and Santander were found by the consumer group to have the worst gaps in online safety.
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Some £207.8m was lost to bank transfer scams in the first six months of last year, industry data show.
Among the banks, Tesco Bank received the poorest rating, from Which? Researchers.
A spokesman for Tesco countered that the bank takes the security of its customers “very seriously’ and added: ‘Many of the security measures we use on customers’ behalf are not visible to external parties, and these measures invalidate a number of the findings of this survey.”
Not meeting regulations
Second from the bottom was TSB. The problems identified by the experts include a login process, which did not meet regulations introduced in March.
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By GlobalDataA TSB spokesman said providing customers with safe and secure banking was a priority, adding: “We are the only bank that offers a guarantee to refund all innocent victims of fraud – including those who lose money to online scams.”
Santander was the third of the bottom three.
A Santander spokesman said: “The Which? review only focuses on the customer-facing elements of security and it is important to understand that there are many other ‘back end’ measures that we employ to ensure we keep our customers safe.”
Who’s the best? Who needs improvement?
“The serious failings we exposed reinforce the need for banks to up their game on scam protections,” noted Harry Rose, Which? magazine editor.
Singled out as the best was Starling Bank, whose new online banking site pointed to no red flags, according to Which?
Barclays, HSBC and First Direct tied for second spot with room for improvement.
With so much of our banking now done on our computers and smartphones, it’s important that those services are secure, the researchers said.
