An Exploratory Study of the Relationships between Selected Contextual Factors and Information Security Concerns in Global Financial Services Institutions

This paper examines the relationships between three contextual factors i.e. transparency levels, information and communication technologies (ICT) use laws, and national legal systems efficiency and information security concerns in the global financial services institutions (GFSI). This research essentially seeks to expand the breadth of knowledge provided in the 2009 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) survey, which reported on information security issues in GFSI. This current study used secondary data sources for its analysis. The inference from the 2009 DTT survey was that information security concerns across GFSI are being informed solely by industry-related standards or imperatives. To that end, perceptions and attitudes toward such issues were thought to remain unchanged in differing national contexts. However, this study’s data analysis showed that the perceptions of information security concerns among GFSI employees across the world compare somewhat and also differ, in other respects. Also, this research’s findings indicated that GFSI practitioners need to be aware of two information security concerns: a) how information security and business initiatives are appropriately aligned in their organizations, b) the issue of who has the responsibility for privacy in their setups. Against the backdrop of the countries used in this study and the three contextual factors considered, this study found that these two issues to be significantly relevant to the management of security and privacy concerns in GFSI. The implications of the study’ findings for practitioners and academic researchers are discussed, and possible areas of future research outlined.