Why your money’s safe with neon
Time and again, people ask us if mobile banking is safe. And whether you can trust a new company like neon with your hard-earned cash. The answer is a resounding YES! You’ve no need to worry. And here, we’ll tell you why.
(Incidentally: here we tell you how phishing works, what we do for you and how you can protect yourself. And if you want to know how we’re protecting ourselves against hackers, you should read our report on a penetration test here.)
We rely on technology...
We generally just want one thing: for you to be the only person who can get their hands on your money. To make sure this is the case, we use tried-and-trusted security technology from our partner bank, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, and rely on multi-factor authentication. This is how it works:
First factor: your login code. You’re the only person who knows this, and you need it (along with your contract number) to log in. If you prefer, you can use your fingerprint or face ID instead of typing in the login code each time. This is the first security factor, and without it, nobody can see your account balance or transactions. But even if someone gets hold of this factor, no money can leave your account – because you need the second factor to make payments.
Second factor: your smartphone. Once you’ve logged in for the first time, you need to activate your mobile for neon so you can make payments. You can do this by setting a transfer PIN. When you buy a new mobile, you’ll need to activate it again to start with (and to do so, just request an activation code in the app).
Extra security: inputting your transfer PIN. With neon, simply having your smartphone and receiving a text isn’t enough to make a transfer. After all, anyone who has your smartphone could read it!
In short, only the person who has your mobile and your login code, as well as your transfer PIN, can make payments from your account. In other words, you can make sure that nobody can touch your money. And for the record, your data is encrypted, protected by an array of firewalls and located in a Finma-certified data centre in Switzerland.
Oh, and by the way, hackers can’t get hold of your money either. We recently carried out a ‘penetration test’, which saw us let hackers loose on a neon account to confirm that we don’t have any security vulnerabilities. The hackers’ efforts were in vain: they weren’t able to access the account or send any money. Find out more here.
...and on a partner bank with a history stretching back 150 years
What will happen to your money if neon ends up in trouble? Absolutely nothing, even though we’re doing everything we can to ensure it’ll never come to that. Why? Because your savings aren’t held by neon. They’re actually kept in an account with our partner bank, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg.
This bank was founded in 1868, and it’s been a bastion of stability ever since. Another reason why your money is safe is because ‘Hypi’ is overseen by Finma and, like every other bank in Switzerland, is part of the deposit protection scheme. This offers protection for deposits of up to CHF 100,000 (find out more here).
As you can see, we’ve put a lot of thought into how we can protect your money so you can rest easy. If you still have questions, just write to us at service_at_neon-free.ch.