[sneak]

Email is the only universally-accepted federated notification system.

Emails such as "your card has been used 1000km+ from its last use" or "you just made this >$1000 purchase" are very useful indeed, and should be encouraged to detect fraud.

[raverbashing]

For small notifications (let's say a $50 purchase) I get an SMS

If it's something that rings a bell the bank calls me

[MichaelApproved]

The problem with that is banks sometimes ask what your last transaction was to prove you are the account holder. Anyone who has access to these email messages will know that information.

[drcoopster]

I've never seen this with any of the banks with which I've done business. They will tell me what the transactions were and ask me to confirm that they were indeed by me in the case that they're suspicious of fraudulent activity.