State of Identity in Financial Services 2026
Financial-services-specific identity benchmarks — FFIEC examination focus, customer ATO economics, MFA depth on banking + brokerage surfaces, and the implementation state of the 2021 FFIEC authentication guidance.
Reviewed
2026-05-22
5 benchmarks · CC BY 4.0
Regulators
FFIEC (OCC, FDIC, Federal Reserve, NCUA, CFPB) · SEC · NYDFS Part 500 · state insurance + banking regulators
$6.08M
Average financial-services breach cost
Second-highest industry for breach economics, behind only healthcare. The cost is driven by regulatory penalties, customer notification, and post-incident credit-monitoring expenses.
Source: IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 · 2025
Top industry target
Account takeover attack rate on financial surfaces
Akamai and Verizon both place financial services as the most-targeted industry for credential stuffing and ATO. Banks and brokerages absorb millions of attempts per day.
Source: Akamai State of the Internet — Security + Verizon DBIR · 2025
Mostly compliant
ObservationFFIEC layered authentication adoption (high-value transactions)
Step-up MFA on high-value transactions (wires, ACH origination) is now table-stakes at FFIEC-supervised institutions post-2021 guidance update. Tier 1 banks compliant; smaller institutions catching up.
Source: askmeidentity practice observations + FFIEC examination patterns · 2026
Growing
Passkey adoption on banking apps
Major US + EU banks rolled out passkey support during 2024-2025. Adoption rate among customers is 15-40% depending on the bank and the prompting strategy. Faster than expected.
Source: FIDO Alliance + practitioner observations · 2026
Phased through 2025
NYDFS Part 500 amendments
The Part 500 second amendment (effective Nov 2023) added MFA + privileged access + governance requirements. Final phased deadlines through Nov 2025. Examinations scrutinize identity-control evidence specifically.
Source: NYDFS · 2025
Cite this page
Reference our benchmarks in your reporting.
These benchmarks are licensed under CC BY 4.0 — free to cite, quote, and link to with attribution. Pick a format below.
askmeidentity. (2026). The State of Identity, live (v2026.05). Retrieved 2026-05-22 from https://askmeidentity.com/resources/state-of-identity-financial-services/
"The State of Identity, live." askmeidentity, v2026.05, https://askmeidentity.com/resources/state-of-identity-financial-services/. Accessed 2026-05-22.
@misc{askmeidentity_state_of_identity_2026_05, title = {The State of Identity, live}, author = {{askmeidentity}}, year = {2026}, note = {Version 2026.05, retrieved 2026-05-22}, url = {https://askmeidentity.com/resources/state-of-identity-financial-services/} }