InfoSec People Profile: J.D. Power’s Jennifer White

By Roy Urrico

Finopotamus presents InfoSec People Profiles, a series spotlighting individuals working in information security (infosec), cybersecurity and/or information governance to protect data and transactions at credit unions, other financial institutions, and fintechs serving the financial services industry.

Jennifer White, senior director for banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power.

By her own admission, Jennifer White, senior director for banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power (JDP) — the Troy, Mich.-based data analytics, software, and consumer intelligence company — is not an information security expert. Nevertheless, like most people working in financial services she has a role in protecting consumers and information.

“In my role, I am not directly overseeing information security for JDP or financial institutions,” White told Finopotamus. Rather, she is responsible for “benchmarking how the financial services industry can optimize the customer experience” when setting up accounts and ensuring strong protections for those accounts. “Then, I also help benchmark best practices in helping consumers resolve fraud experiences with their financial partners.”

The Voice of the Consumer

White grew up in metro Detroit and has been a Michigander her whole life. She spent her college years at Kalamazoo College and then graduate school at the Ford School of Public Policy - University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). “While a local girl at heart, I have traveled extensively, providing a peek into other cultures and experiences,” she said.

White described her role at J.D. Power as representing “the voice of today's consumer to industry leaders. I translate consumer experiences into lessons learned that ultimately help remind business leaders how to delight their customers, build trusting relationships, and ultimately create loyal partners. As part of this career, we begin benchmarking consumer financial health status.”

White continued, “That is, how financial institutions can help customers spend, save, borrow, and plan in a way that improves their financial lives. What became clear over time is that to truly strengthen financial lives the focus must also include protecting accounts.”

JDP’s InfoSec Operations

The J.D. Power Financial Protection Satisfaction Study benchmarks both large retail financial institutions and credit card issuers on their success at working with customers on their upfront account protection while also monitoring which organizations achieve the highest satisfaction with fraud resolution activities, explained White. “While the listing of which institutions yield the highest satisfaction for account protection and then which are highest ranked for fraud resolution are not public today, in 2026 J.D. Power will be publicly ranking retail banks and card issuers for account protection.”

The 2025 study collected 40,197 responses from September 2024 through September 2025 from customers in the U.S. who have a primary banking relationship with a qualifying financial institution or a primary credit card relationship with a qualifying credit card issuer. Among the firms in the study: Navy Federal Credit Union, American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Citizens Bank, Discover, Goldman Sachs, Huntington, KeyBank, M&T Bank, PNC, TD Bank, USAA and Wells Fargo.

The Eye-Opening Threats

Finopotamus asked White: “What threats keep you up at night?” She responded, “Not unlike someone who is awake wondering if their young drivers are speeding on the highway driving home at night, I worry about the speed of financial transactions putting customers at risk.”

She also noted, “The demand is instantaneous money movement and immediate access to funds.” But that speed means compromising the frictions put in place to limit fraud. “J.D. Power asks consumers a ‘goldilocks’ question about whether the level of security their financial partners offer is lacking, just right, or too burdensome,” said White.

“Digital leaders at banks and credit unions are concerned they will introduce too much friction and make customers seek new partners,” observed White: “In the end, consumers tell JDP that burden is welcomed.” The Financial Protection Satisfaction Study found 82% of large retail bank customers said their security is just right with just 11% saying it is lacking and 7% saying it is too burdensome, she noted. “What is more interesting, however, is that only those customers saying (security) is ‘lacking’ have dramatically lower customer satisfaction. That is, your credit union can be perceived as having burdensome friction and still yield quite high customer marks. We will monitor this over time…but for now taking action is good.”

Trust: The Consumer Perspective

From the consumer perspective, the biggest threat stems from attrition or at least “quiet quitting" a financial partner (shifting deposits elsewhere) because of violated trust, maintained White. “Consumers are clear with JDP that the best way a financial institution can demonstrate they care (which significant impacts CX and retention) is to alert them of suspicious activity on their accounts.”

White suggested the opportunity exists to turn the very negative experience of fraud into a member or customer experience triumph by following best practices. “Be the messenger of bad news and notify them of fraud, listen to your customers stories, give empathetic apologies, offer timelines to resolution, and do not make them contact you more than once. Get that experience right and satisfaction rates can soar.”