Banks say they should not have to reimburse small businesses whose online accounts are hacked

Computer criminals could wind up costing Danish banks billions if a law requiring them to compensate small businesses on an equal footing with private account holders is passed.

The Commerce Ministry has asked the Financial Supervisory Authority to look into whether companies with less than 10 employees and annual turnover of less than 15 million kroner should be issued a guarantee that they will be compensated if their accounts are hacked into.

Currently, banks are required to compensate private account holders everything but a 1200 kroner deduction if their accounts are hacked. The new law would issue the same guarantee to small businesses and would encompass 90 percent of the country’s companies.

Losses to computer hacking have been limited in Denmark compared with other countries, but the Financial Supervisory Authority is concerned that a new wave of criminality could be rising.

Tina Füssel, vice president of the Financial Supervisory Authority, said the organisation recognised that IT security was the bank’s responsibility, but nevertheless opposed the law.

The law would be ‘unfair’ and result in companies slacking off on their computer security, she said.

‘Computer criminals can attack on other fronts than internet banking,’ Füssel said, adding that hackers could steal company secrets and deliberately crash computer systems.

‘We need to see computer criminality as society’s problem, not a bank problem,’ she said.

Companies can take out insurance protecting them from losses due to computer crime, but business groups say banks ought to extend the same protection to their members as to private account holders.