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Across every industry, the threat of fraud and cybersecurity risks is only increasing, made even more complex by the advancement of artificial intelligence. Due to their management of highly valuable data, global insurance leaders are looking to remove risk and ensure compliance with regulations related to data privacy and security.
One area presenting vulnerability is relationships with third-party vendors, who may not uphold the highest levels of security and compliance.
A recent report showed that out of 64 breaches examined at insurance companies, a full 38 (59%) involved third parties – higher than any other industry – and suggesting that threat actors deliberately compromised an otherwise well-defended company through its weaker links.
Without the right partner, one particular area risk can seep into is the process of collecting payments from a global customer base.
Looking to serve a global clientele, too many organizations bolt together processors and providers that promise to localise and boost customer experiences. Instead, they often wind up frustrating customers and creating more risk.
Benefits of a unified payments platform
For international health insurers, a unified approach to payment processes and prioritising improvements in the payments process present clear ways to reduce risk.
Managing multiple payment vendors for separate jurisdictions means managing security protocols, compliance requirements, and potential weak points in each. Plus, each new vendor adds to your compliance burden and increases the attack surface for cyber threats.
One vendor may be up to date on the latest security standards, and in compliance with industry and government regulations, but how can you guarantee the same level of security for other methods? What if the provider is integrated with a system of record, and an update shipped by one vendor breaks something? If you’re managing multiple vendors, how can you pinpoint who it is?
Securing sensitive data and removing risk
For industries like insurance, which handles sensitive patient data, this is a significant risk.
A unified payments platform removes this risk, being built with industry-leading security and compliance at its core, then continuously updated according to the latest development methodologies.
By consolidating onto a single platform, you can ensure that all payments are processed with the highest level of security and in adherence to global regulations, simplifying your payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS) and other compliance obligations.
In fact, stronger vendor security is a key aim of the updates to PCI DSS that are now active. Prioritising payment security also mitigates financial and reputational risk. Noncompliance with regulations is a driver of more costly breaches, increasing them on average by more than $170,000, according to IBM’s annual Cost of a Data Breach survey.
A third (32%) of data breaches resulted in regulatory fines, with nearly half of those costing organisations more than $100,000. Those fines for noncompliance get passed onto businesses, and ultimately, trickle down to consumers, reducing trust in the company and its products. The right partner also brings a full suite of anti-financial crimes compliance programs, including know your customers, sanctions, and fraud monitoring programs, combined with local expertise, to protect your business and your payers.
Strong compliance is a growth enabler
Leaders know that when approached strategically, compliance does not have to put up roadblocks to innovation.
When robust data management and security and automated reporting capabilities are embedded thoughtfully into workflows and process, compliance can be an enabler of global growth as much as a security strategy for IPMI providers.
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