Macquarie launches market-leading security features enabling customers to personalise their banking experience

In a first for Australian banking, Macquarie has announced that its customers can now personalise their digital security settings, including choosing to be alerted of any login attempt to their Macquarie account, from any device, wherever they are. The enhanced security options extend the features of Macquarie’s market-leading digital security app, Macquarie Authenticator, launched in 2019.

This latest innovation involves customers being sent a push notification to their mobile phone which details the browser type, device name, time and approximate location of attempted logins – the customer can then choose to approve or deny the login, providing enhanced security against fraudulent logins.

The new security feature empowers customers to personalise their security settings by choosing between three levels of authentication with their digital banking, giving them greater flexibility and choice to manage their account security in a way that suits them. The three settings are:

• Standard: Additional verification is required on changes to sensitive account details and certain financial transactions from the customer’s usual device.
• Enhanced: Additional verification is required on all attempted logins – except trusted devices – as well as on changes to sensitive account details and certain financial transactions. 
• Ultimate: Additional verification is required on all attempted logins, whether from trusted or unknown devices, as well as on changes to sensitive account details and certain financial transactions.

Macquarie Authenticator, which runs alongside Macquarie’s award-winning digital banking app, prompts customers to verify transactions or attempted logins with a simple and secure press of a button, even when they are travelling overseas, or when SMS is delayed or unavailable.

Macquarie customers who select the “Ultimate” security setting can now also view their login history for the past six months, including the time, date and device ID of previous logins.

Ben Perham, Head of Personal Banking for Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services Group, said that the latest security features are designed to deliver a best-in-class client experience and give customers even more choice when it comes to protecting their bank accounts.

“We know security is one of the biggest concerns for Australians when it comes to their finances. As a digital bank, we’re focussed on enabling our customers to bank in a way that suits them, including personalising their security settings.”

“We’re proud to be launching this new security enhancement, which is a first for Australian banking and gives our customers the ability to approve or deny login attempts in real-time. We’re empowering our customers to choose enhanced security options, giving them extra peace of mind with an intuitive push alert from the Macquarie Authenticator app, whenever a login is attempted to their accounts.”

About Macquarie’s digital banking offering:

Macquarie launched its new, award-winning digital banking experience in 2016, with a number of features that are firsts of their kind in Australian banking, including:

• In August 2019, launched Macquarie Authenticator – an industry leading security app that uses push notifications to provide additional real-time verification for customer transactions and brings together multiple security check-points;
• The only Australian bank to have re-built its tech stack from the ground up, and the first to have loans and retail deposits on the one real-time core banking platform;
• Tailored budgeting tools, instant push notifications and natural language search technology that customers can use across their accounts; 
• Pioneered the use of Datastax technology in banking, using the same technology as Netflix and Facebook to deliver highly personalised customer experiences.
  

In September 2017, Macquarie announced the launch of its new Open Banking Platform, which was the first in Australia to give customers control over their everyday banking data and the power to securely manage how they want to share it. Leveraging Application Programming Interface (API) technology and the O-Auth 2.0 protocols, Macquarie’s Open Banking Platform enables our customers to instruct that their data be shared securely with approved third-parties with whom the client has a relationship for new services and experiences.