Already, a consumer can sit at her home computer, dial in to her bank, and send checks and buy and sell securities with the click of a mouse. Securities firms and individual companies are underwriting and selling securities over the Internet. Electronic market places for securities are proliferating. Financial services firms more and more are becoming information businesses. The financial services industry faces serious challenges, in maintaining the security and privacy of customer accounts and information and preventing the opportunity for fraud and other misconduct that could arise as a result of new technology.
Security is critical to the securities industry, and for good reason.
We have a fiduciary responsibility to our customers and to our shareholders to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our data. Each year, the industry spends millions of dollars building, buying, implementing and testing the security of its systems and networks. If we could not maintain the confidentiality of our clients' and our own data, we would lose their confidence and their business. In today's financial environment, we compete with firms from all over the world. The customers we court are investors both within and outside the United States.