Javelin Strategy & Research released the results of its Banking Identity Safety Scorecard in San Francisco at the Identity Theft and Fraud Symposium sponsored by American Banker. Twenty-four of the country's top financial institutions, which collectively hold more than 60 percent of the nationwide banking market, were rated on their ability to prevent, detect and resolve consumer ID theft in partnership with customers.

The highest overall ranking recognition went to Bank of America, closely followed by JP Morgan Chase and Washington Mutual. Marshall & Ilsley Bank received top honors for prevention, representing the most weighted category in the evaluation. A category award for detection also was awarded to JP Morgan, with Washington Mutual receiving the resolution award. An honorable mention award for overall strength across all the categories went to KeyBank, while Citibank was acknowledged for its email policies to avoid phishing.

"This is the third year of our study, and financial institutions have improved significantly in giving consumers the tools they need to detect fraud on their own," said James Van Dyke, President of Javelin Strategy & Research. "Prevention is the next area in which financial institutions should focus their efforts. Overall, the industry must accomplish more in this area. We found that financial institutions focus more on resolving problems after they occur rather than stopping them up front."

With regard to regulatory compliance, the report extends a clear warning.

"With the end-of-the-year deadline looming for FFIEC (Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council) remote authentication compliance, we found that only one institution has fully implemented a solution," Van Dyke said. "Financial institutions, as a whole, have not yet taken the necessary steps to conform to the new guidelines. The next few months will be a critical time period as financial institutions need to focus their attention and research efforts on prevention methods to conform to this federal mandate."