By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumers should be wary but not alarmed about identity theft and other personal finance fraud as banks are determined to root out the problems and reimburse clients, according to experts.
At this week's Reuters Banking Summit in New York, industry executives and analysts said that while banks spend heavily to protect customers' personal data, the growing problem of identity theft is far from crippling, either for companies or consumers.
"Banks are looking at it very hard, bar none, and it has accelerated over the last six to eight months," said Jim Reichbach, the national leader of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP's banking and finance industry practice.
Referring to consumer concerns, he said: "My view is what is happening now is more about fear than reality. But it's justifiable."
Dozens of companies, including Citigroup Inc. (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Bank of America Corp. (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Wachovia Corp. (WB.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Washington Mutual Inc. (WM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and credit card giants Visa and MasterCard, have in recent months been victims of data theft or loss.
Personal information of tens of millions of customers has been compromised, though not necessarily used.
HASSLE
In many cases, especially with credit cards, the potential consumer losses are limited. Many credit cards limit customer liability in cases of theft to $50. Continued...
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