BOSTON — A new report by the Aite Group has found that a good number of even the largest U.S. financial institutions are not prepared for the end of the year deadline for multi-factor authentication compliance.

In Online Banking and Brokerage Security: 12/31 and Beyond, Aite Group stated that at least one third of U.S. financial institutions will not have an advanced fraud detection and transaction monitoring solution in place by the end of the year or a stronger user authentication solution fully rolled out. [Thirty-three percent of those surveyed said they plan to complete stronger user authentication in 2007, while another third plan to complete stronger site authentication next year.] Only 8% already had stronger user authentication systems in place.

Aite Group surveyed 12 of the top 50 U.S. banks according to the number of checking accounts and the top 10 retail brokers determined by the number of online customers, representing a combined 19.2 million active online banking and brokerage users. Aite Group is an independent research and advisory firm focused on business, technology and regulatory issues and their impact on the financial services industry.