Austin Capital Bank®, a leader in digital banking products serving more than 1 million users nationwide, has officially announced the launch of its Fort Knox® High-Security Savings Account (HSSA).
According to certain reports, the stated HSAA arrives on the scene bearing the means to create a whole new industry standard for protecting consumers’ life savings in an increasingly vulnerable digital world.
To understand the significance of such a development, we must take into account the newly-published data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which claims that fraud attempts against banking customers have gone up by 25% in 2024, with reported total losses reaching a record $12.5 billion.
Not just that, FTC also claims 93% of Americans have been targeted by fraud attempts in the past year, affecting a total of over 45 million people. As for the average loss per victim, it now exceeds $4,000, representing a 34% increase from just two years ago.
“It doesn’t matter how convenient your banking is if your money isn’t safe—criminals love easy access and fast transfers too,” said Erik Beguin, CEO and founder of Austin Capital Bank. “Today, we’re introducing an entirely new category of bank accounts: the high-security savings account. While traditional banks and payment providers try to balance convenience with security, and achieve neither, the Fort Knox HSSA fundamentally reimagines how banks protect customer assets with a platform and architecture built to prioritize security at every level.”
Talk about the whole value proposition on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how Fort Knox HSSA arrives on the scene bearing an ability to integrate cutting-edge account security and first-of-its-kind funds transfer architecture, all for the purpose of minimizing fraud vulnerabilities.
The stated architecture includes, at launch, an Intelligent Closed-Loop™ Protection facility. Leveraging the same, Fort Knox HSSA ensures funds can only move between a Fort Knox HSSA account and the account holder’s securely linked external bank account.
Such a structure also makes Fort Knox HSSA the only platform where fraudsters must defeat at least two independent banks’ security measures, thus preventing unauthorized transfers to random accounts or payment apps that are typically used for fraudulent purposes.
Next up, we must dig into the availability of an advanced security framework. This translates to how Fort Knox HSSA employs a multilayered security system, including passwordless and biometric authentication, proprietary blacklisting of high-risk institutions and apps, as well as automatic account Lockdown™ which instantly freezes all funds transfers in and out of an account.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the availability of customizable security controls. These controls span clearly defined zones that protect both a consumer’s money and personal data. Within each zone, users can also customize their security protocols through soft and physical tokens for added protection.
On top of that, Fort Knox HSSA prioritizes security by preventing instant withdrawals. All withdrawal requests are also held for two business days, allowing customers ample time to review and confirm each transaction.
Founded in 2006, Austin Capital Bank’s rise up the ranks stems from combining an FDIC-insured bank charter with world-class in-house technology development capabilities to solve critical unmet financial needs for consumers and small business owners nationwide. The organization’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider it serves at the moment more than 1 million users.
“Nearly every American will be targeted by multiple fraud attempts today—and every day going forward. The criminals are getting faster, smarter and more relentless,” said Beguin. “The hard truth is that if you haven’t been a victim of bank fraud yourself, you know someone who has. The traditional security model—a username, a password and a one-time code—just isn’t enough anymore. Criminals have evolved. Banks haven’t. We created Fort Knox so Americans can sleep well at night knowing their life savings are protected—and that their money will be there when they need it.”
