What's so protective about 'Turning Japanese'?

Which region experiences the least amount of online banking fraud? Is it the one with the most stringent regulations or with the most investment in expensive, state-of-the-art fraud protection software?

According to Paul Henninger, Director of Fraud Solutions, Actimize who spoke on the Payments and risk management panel at this week's EBADay in Vienna, it is Japan.

While the panel comtemplated the increased risk of fraud in Europe due to the onset of even faster payments, Paul commented that Sepa will indeed "make attacking corporate and wholesale customers more attractive."

Many on the panel expressed surprise that most European banks remain "unconcerned" with the increased risk of fraud due to (almost) real-time payments.

However, Paul noted that Japan has almost no online banking fraud. The reason? Most criminals don't speak Japanese. "It is easier for them to just attack a bank in Canada." said Paul.

So, maybe we should  forget security codes and our mother's maiden names and just encrypt our bank accounts in another langauge and turn them 'Japanese?'