Who Says Security Is Important?

Despite its marketability, customer information security surprisingly does not provide a significant competitive advantage among online brokerages, according to Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin Strategy & Research. In response to recent headlines spotlighting fraud in the online brokerage community, Javelin initiated a study into consumer attitudes surrounding the security and overall performance of major online brokerages.

In a survey of 549 online brokerage account holders, Javelin found only 3 percent of users believe that the security provided by their brokerage is unsatisfactory. The majority of online traders (61 percent) were satisfied, with the rest of the sample feeling neutral on the subject.

Javelin also found that increased account security would not be sufficient incentive for online traders to switch brokerages. A mere 8 percent of traders said that they would be likely or very likely to switch if another brokerage offered additional security measures. <<<