Covid-19

Several months into the global pandemic and we know that general indicators of risk or stress don’t reveal enough about what’s really going on within your customer portfolios. We also know that most institutions heavily use statistical models in identifying and capturing risk drivers in order to make decisions. Active model calibration in current circumstances can have a measurable effect on approvals and expected loss within a few weeks of being implemented. Banks have managed through economic recessions and other stressed scenarios by adjusting various levers for liquidity and risk. None, however, have ever had to predict consumer behavior in a pandemic. How can credit risk executives regain control over disrupted risk models at a time of constant change? Four key actions to enact now for immediate and sustainable impact:  1. Increase the frequency of model health monitoring Many of the predictive models that financial institutions rely on aren’t stable enough to handle real-world disruptions. Nor are the models re-calibrated frequently enough to appropriately assess risk in the rapidly changing situation we currently face. Monitoring models on a quarterly basis isn’t enough, but that tends to be the average frequency for most financial institutions. Increasing the frequency of model monitoring processes and identifying the need for a change in models sooner leads to significant financial impact. Depending on the asset size of the institution and the specific use case, financial institutions can potentially save millions of dollars in lost revenue or avoided credit losses. Automating the process supports an increased frequency of monitoring while requiring less effort from your analytics team. 2. Carry out ex-ante stress testing for your models Businesses should consider using ex-ante stress testing, in light of the difficulty in maintaining the accuracy of model predictions in changing conditions as well as to meet the heavy governance requirements of new models before their actual use. Traditional ex-post processes are effective in simulating what would have happened historically had a new model been in place. This is an extremely valuable exercise but isn’t very helpful in the current stress environment which is both unique and highly uncertain. Risk managers would like to have a go-forward view on model performance for decisions being made right now, not just a look-back view on decisions made historically. Applying ex-ante stress testing allows us to simulate and analyze a range of possible outcomes based on changing macro conditions, evolving consumer behaviors, and other uncertainties like the quality of underlying data. 3. Make practical, short-term adjustments We’ve seen in previous economic downturns that models can rapidly become unfit for purpose, and the consequences may not be fully apparent until long after the start of the downturn. In such circumstances, you shouldn’t necessarily attempt to make changes that you expect to be robust for many months into the future. There’s a strong case for making adjustments that are designed to address temporary circumstances and reviewing them at an increased frequency. Some businesses are taking a conservative strategy by tightening their credit policies and decisioning strategies. Other businesses are overlaying their models with certain attributes. For example, one could look at the number of open inquiries in the past 30 days. Since we know that attribute is unstable, we can pair it with an attribute that will give you more population stability – such as average open inquiries over the past 6 months. 4. Setup for rapid re-calibration or re-build of models The decision to re-calibrate or re-build a model during the pandemic would depend on multiple factors including the business need and model use case, the performance of the existing model, and the confidence in the quality and relevance of data for the model build. However, it is important that financial institutions and other businesses are set up to rapidly update their models. They should be actively working on re-calibrating/re-building their models in a test environment, evaluate the impact, and be prepared to deploy.  The ability to rapidly update models will be a key differentiator as businesses compete to grow their portfolios and manage losses during and in the aftermath of this pandemic. As with many other aspects of our lives, credit risk management is being challenged by the new reality created by a global pandemic. Whether our response is temporary, or whether the crisis is accelerating an existing trend to be more active in model management, we need to react to maximize our portfolio performance. At the end of the day, none of us have been through a pandemic but we know our models can still work. It’s all about model accuracy and model governance and reducing error rates. By increasing the frequency and efficiency of model monitoring and re-calibration, we can drive business outcomes with more impact than ever before. Learn more: For many organizations, navigating and recovering from these volatile times will remain top priorities as they begin strategizing for the future. Get details on accelerating your digital transformation.

The Covid-19 crisis has been a bit like existing inside a shaken snow globe—it disrupted everything, and a lot remains up in the air. However, amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic, one thing has become evident: Cultivating customer trust is more critical than ever. Trust naturally generates loyalty. This is especially true during and after a crisis. For example, Experian's latest global research from July 2020 shows 52% of customers who felt that businesses treated them fairly during the pandemic plan to give those companies more of their business. That fairness bred trust and that trust will undoubtedly lead to more business. As consumers continue to increase their digital transactions, companies need to work hard to enhance customer trust. Improved identity authentication and recognition, for example, will play a key role. As everything begins to settle, those that succeed will find their business on far more steady ground. Does trust even matter? It's a good question—and the answer may be evolving in real-time. Consider that in 2019, Experian's global identity & fraud study showed that digital adoption did not indicate consumer trust of the business. "Consumers still adopt digital channels despite being highly skeptical of the businesses," the study noted. Social media provides an excellent example. Overall, most consumers distrust many of the popular social media platforms, yet they continue to use them regularly. Interestingly, widespread adoption is linked more to convenience than trust. However, this comes with a real caveat: Customers are less concerned about trust when the product is more frivolous. For instance, not trusting a media outlet or social media platform is very different from not trusting a financial institution. Also, a lack of adoption doesn't always mean that customers don't trust the business. In the financial service and payments realm, low adoption may simply reflect that customers use the platforms less regularly. Now, as consumers increase their reliance on online services, maintaining trust will be paramount. For instance, since Coronavirus began, consumers have increased their use and awareness of mobile wallets by 8%, and their use of retail payment apps by 6%. Balancing the convenience that people have needed with the necessary trust will go a long way towards keeping usage high once the crisis subsides. A virtuous cycle Within any digital experience, several components inform customer trust. You want to ensure accurate customer recognition, as well as transparency with your authentication. Robust fraud protection and positive digital experiences also play essential roles. These form the Cycle of Trust, a virtuous circle that ultimately encourages customers to share more information with your company and pursue more transactions. Our 2019 study reveals the importance of each part of this cycle, and we see it playing out now. For example, 90% of consumers are willing to participate in a more thorough identity verification process early on to have easier account access in the future. The ability to routinely and accurately recognize your customers helps build their trust in your technology and products. Also, 76% of customers have more confidence in companies that use biometrics over passwords to protect their information. That means that you can use advanced authentication strategies to enhance trust even more. Transparency also comes into play. Letting people know how you're using their information and whom you're sharing it with makes them more apt to trust your organization—and continue to share their data. The future of trust This cycle represents the goal. In practice, though, there are still quite a few challenges that prevent organizations from getting that wheel spinning. For instance, many have separated the risk assessment processes of verifying customers at signup, logging in, and transacting, so there's no seamless experience. Instead, customers navigate different solutions to onboard, authenticate their identity, and complete transactions. A company may recognize a customer at one point in the process, but not all the way through. What's more, organizations often still place the onus on the consumer for how they represent themselves in the digital world. Authentication processes require them to remember passwords or retrieve codes from their phone. But as noted, the pandemic has opened an opportunity for dramatic improvement. Consumers are at a rare moment in which they're open to change—and they're even looking for it. For example, since the beginning of the pandemic, 60% of customers say they have higher expectations for online experiences. More than half of customers are also more willing to provide organizations they trust with personal information and financial data. Finally, 44% of customers note that since Covid, they are more trusting of companies that demonstrate security. So how can you increase trust while also meeting evolving customer expectations? Organizations that pave the way will likely assume more responsibility for recognizing and authenticating customers. This starts with becoming more creative in using the data they already have access to recognize and authenticate customers. Extending this passive and continuous recognition across channels will also be necessary. Doing so connects the disparate processes and creates a more seamless digital experience. Such initiatives also remove the identity burden from the customer and kickstart that virtuous cycle. No one anticipated the Covid-19 crisis. But it's opened up the chance to create fairer, more trusting, more transparent digital experiences for everyone—and companies shouldn't pass that up. Related stories: Latest global research: The impact of Covid-19 on consumer behaviors and business strategies Better identifying your customers leads to greater trust Covid-19 as a Gateway to Fraud: Top 5 Global Fraud Trends to Watch Out for in 2020 Podcast: Securing online identity

In case you’ve missed these September headlines, we’ve compiled the top global news you need to stay in-the-know on the latest hot topics and insights from our experts. Transforming analytics into business impact CIO.com shares insight on using analytics to maximize business outcomes from IT leaders, including Shri Santhanam, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Global Analytics and AI. Global shudder: How businesses and customers are reacting to Covid-19 This MediaPost article covers global research findings on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as perspective on the trends and what’s to come, from Steve Wagner, Global Managing Director of Decision Analytics. Experian touts Biocatch behavioral biometrics, adds Onfido face authentication for onboarding Biometric Update shares the latest on enhanced fraud detection for new account openings through a layered approach. Marika Vilen, SVP Platform Commercialization, Global Identity and Fraud, speaks to optimizing operations in today’s environment. Experian’s cloud-based solutions adapt to today’s evolving customer needs In this AiThority article covering cloud-based solutions for automating decisions, Donna DePasquale, General Manager, Executive Vice President of Global Decisioning, shares her perspective on businesses meeting the needs of today’s changing market. Why businesses need to meet the challenge of digital acceleration Steve Pulley, Managing Director of Data Analytics, offers global insights on continuing operations through an evolving digital marketplace impacted by Covid-19 in this Bdaily, United Kingdom, article. Stay in the know with our latest insights:

Whether you work for a small or big company, chances are you’ve seen budgets contract in the wake of Covid-19.  There are a lot of factors contributing to it: fluctuating economic outlooks, building up loan loss reserves, and re-directing expenditures to keep employees and customers safe and secure. A recent global study of banks and retailers found that the top area of short-term investment was securing the mobile and digital channels. In fact, it also showed that 80% of businesses put a digital identity strategy in place, a 30-point increase since Covid-19 began and 60% of businesses are planning to increase their budgets for credit risk analytics and fraud prevention, respectively. So why is it that only 32% of banks and retailers feel operationally ready for their customer’s continued demand for digital engagement? The Capex required to invest in new technology these days requires a fiercely competitive business case. Not forgetting to mention, if approved, it could be a while before you see a return on your investment. But it doesn’t mean the latest advancements and innovation available for managing credit risk or fraud risk is out of reach. Getting more out of your existing tools and technologies is easier to implement and quick to deliver results. In fact, since Covid-19 began, hundreds of clients have optimized their use of credit and fraud risk software and analytics, helping them focus on creating more meaningful customer relationships and saving them millions in potential losses. Here are two examples of how you can get the most out of your existing technologies today and a checklist for evaluating your current tools. Device recognition Beyond securing systems against Cybersecurity threats, businesses need to think like the criminals they’re trying to deflect. If it seems like the world all went digital overnight because of Covid-19, then you can bet fraudsters were one step ahead exploiting the blind spots in the customer relationships you quickly moved online. But how do you recognize your customer behind their mobile device or computer screen? One way is to discern a fraudulent (or “mimic”) device from a genuine one. Having access to this information allows you to swiftly see the same device repeating both good and bad behavior and thus have a better chance of isolating the mimic device and mitigating fraud attacks. This is done by creating a strong probabilistic measure to determine whether two events are from the same device or not. How does this help? It helps to reduce over-firing fraud velocity rules and more precisely out-sort fraud events for manual review. It’s not as complicated as it sounds, and many businesses already have access to this device intelligence data which simply requires them to either turn it on or upgrade their fraud management systems to its latest version. In fact, additional device data points are always being added, and upgrading this layer is often recommended as it can provide up to 85% improvement in performance. Bottom-line: Device data bolster the effectiveness of your customer identity and fraud defenses with little impact on operational resources and reduces friction on your customer’s digital experience. Machine learning Innovations in decision management are having an impact on areas traditionally associated with predicting consumer behavior, such as credit risk, collections, and fraud detection. The ubiquity of data nowadays requires the methods used to derive actionable insights to evolve and most lenders globally have started to adopt advanced analytics. Nearly 70% of businesses increasing their use of machine learning for determining creditworthiness since Covid-19 began. For the collections process, it has helped to determine the best way to contact a delinquent customer or the best treatment to use as a customer exits Covid-induced forbearance?  For card, mortgage, and automotive portfolios, machine learning has played a strategic role in creating and implementing pricing strategies to determine the most accurate decisions for financing terms. Perhaps it’s in fraud detection where machine learning is having the biggest impact. Unlike how it’s applied in credit risk decision strategies, machine learning used for fraud detection can be trained to learn and improve with experience without explicitly being told to do so. It excels at solving problems where the “problem space” cannot be defined easily by rules, which makes it a great complement to mature rules-based fraud management systems. Furthermore, machine learning models can take advantage of the different data points from all backing applications at the time of any single transaction, login, or submission. This produces a final decision that’s more accurate than that produced by a simple rules-based approach or manual decision matrix. Attributes that once provided minimal lift when analyzed in a silo may now provide a substantial lift to predict credit risk or prevent a fraud attack when combined with multiple data elements. Conversely, legitimate events that were inadvertently triggered by traditional fraud detection methods can be identified as authentic before having a negative impact on the customer’s experience. Bottom-line: A layered approach continues to be a key component in any credit decision or fraud detection solution and machine-learning models are the final call in your decision workflow strategy so they can leverage all the previous decision data. Checklist: Evaluate whether you’re getting the most from your decision technology Is your current solution providing the results you need? Avoid comfort in patterns and request a business review of your current solution to analyze performance. It may reveal unknown gaps and opportunities to improve your business results. How do your results compare to your peers? Some peer benchmarking is publicly available, but most vendors offer peer (blind) benchmarking using your specific performance data. It’s worth the ask! Are you using all the functionality your tool has to offer? Sometimes decision technology is implemented with a myopic focus on solving a specific problem or used in a specific area despite a broad range of functionality available that covers more use cases. Are you using the most up-to-date version of your tools? Check with your vendor right away and stay informed regarding newer versions. Upgrades generally require less effort and cost than a new solution and by continuously monitoring for the latest version, you’re able to meet current regulatory and policy standards. Are there any ‘add-ons’ available? Your existing decision technology may offer add-ons to enhance your current solution. Add-ons such as new or enriched data sets, updated scores or models or new software features may extend the business usage of a solution to different processes and within additional departments. Are your technologies integrated to enhance your credit risk and fraud risk decision workflow? Integrating your technologies can help you to execute credit and fraud strategies seamlessly with less chance for error, manual intervention, or duplicating actions across disparate systems. Technology is critical in meeting customer demand and staying competitive in any market. It can help balance the demand for internal resources while providing the service your customers deserve. But as organizations look to stay competitive, and agile through a volatile economic time, remember the importance and tangible benefits of optimizing what you already have in place. Related articles: Global research study: The impact of Covid-19 on consumer behaviors and business strategies Podcast: Banking trends and opportunities in the post-Covid-19 era Are traditional online identification methods becoming obsolete? Case study: Layered behavioral biometrics, device intelligence and machine learning 

In this episode of the Insights in Action podcast we speak with David Bernard, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Strategy, about managing digital transformation in the face of unprecedented challenges such as those originated by the global Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. While the internet has long been a lifeline, technology companies now appear to be the backbone of a global virtual working and collaboration scheme on a scale never experienced before. David shares his perspective on: How business leaders can help accommodate system stressors caused by evolving needs What actions and technologies can help accelerate or scale digitalization efforts Shifting to the cloud without rushing key strategic decisions Managing virtual teams "There’s a lot of comfort as a leader in seeing a solution that works — even if it’s not completely very sophisticated, and building in a Covid time — rather than doing a big ‘what’s it for’ project to design something from scratch and having a long project before implementing something that has all the bells and whistles. So, it leads to a demand for what I would call more software-as-a-service (SaaS) packages and more pre-configured solutions than the highly configurable world that we have seen in the past." - David Bernard >> Listen now to the full episode of this Insights in Action podcast

To keep you informed, we’ve gathered the top global, August headlines covering the latest insights from our experts and recent hot topics. Email attack type: Account takeoverZDNet Japan covers ATO (account takeover) fraud and the variety of techniques used in this attack type to access user accounts and ultimately steal money or sensitive information. In today’s rapidly changing economy, businesses need to get consumer recognition rightDavid Britton, VP of Global Identity & Fraud, shares insights on the disparity between businesses' confidence in recognizing consumers and consumers' lower confidence in this capability by these businesses. EDBI invests in fraud protection fintech VestaThe Straits Times, Singapore, provides an overview of this investment, including details around the increase in online fraud losses recognized across the Asia Pacific (APAC). How banks can balance UX and security amid a pandemicThis Forbes article explores the impact of Covid-19 on consumers, including the critical need for banks to balance consumer protection and good user experience. Stay in the know with our latest insights:

It was Dr. Simon Ramo’s vision of a ‘cashless society’, made possible by information and technology, that led to the creation of Experian’s business in the U.S. in the 1960s. He could see how information was going to change the way people lived and envisioned a future where systems would enable the rapid transfer of information to establish patterns of payment and individual creditworthiness. The democratization of digital financial tools and initiatives to improve financial literacy can create promising beginnings for countless disadvantaged individuals. Fast-forward to the present, and the global Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has taken the world by storm, proving a catalyst for an accelerated path towards a cashless society. Our recent proprietary research indicates that: Since Covid-19, we’ve seen growth in the use of mobile wallets (+8%), such as Apple Pay, and retail apps (+6%), such as Starbucks. The largest areas of growth for using digital payment methods are online grocery shopping (+7% increase) and ordering food (+6%). 50% of consumers globally intend to increase their online activities (banking, payments and shopping) in the next 12-months. Over the past decades, many developing countries such as India and China have recognized the value digital payments deliver to communities. Those governments are fully invested in their cashless society initiatives with a view to increase financial inclusion, improve security, boost trust online, and leverage their high mobile penetration rates to expand the adoption of mobile payments and services. A cashless society brings greater visibility into a larger number of transactions, reducing the potential risk of money laundering, bribery and corruption. It also allows central banks to have a more accurate view into how much money is in circulation, helping them prevent cash hoarding. On the other hand, businesses don’t need to maintain cash reserves, bank their cash payments or pay bank charges for withdrawing physical currency, which means that less ATMs to service and less cash to process leads to more resources to put at the service of their customers. More about our research From June 30 – July 7, 2020, we commissioned an independent research firm to survey consumers and businesses in 10 countries worldwide to understand the impact of Covid-19 on changing consumer trends and behaviors and business strategies and operations. >> See New global research insights: The impact of Covid-19 on consumer behaviors and business strategies for more insights from this study

The global pandemic led to swift and unexpected shifts in consumer behavior, from the significant increase in the use of digital channels, to the decrease in ability to pay for many. Based on this environment, we’ll highlight where senior financial services executives should focus their analytics and decisioning teams’ efforts to provide a bit of certainty in an uncertain time: Confidence and demand for credit First off, it’s important that lenders consider current dynamics when monitoring and measuring the effect of fluctuating market conditions on their portfolio. Overall lower consumer confidence in the ability to access credit is not surprising, but the true impact on demand for credit is yet to be concluded. “As a result of both the pandemic itself and the changed economic conditions it caused, consumers’ appetite for new credit and the ways in which they are using existing credit are in flux.” – Leslie Parrish, “Uncertainty Is Certain: Consumers’ Financial Outlook at Mid-Year 2020,” Aite Group, July 2020 From late June to early July 2020, we surveyed 3,000 consumers and 900 businesses in 10 countries. This research indicates some consumers are responding to economic uncertainty by reducing spend and tapping into financial reserves, while other consumers are using credit to make strategic decisions such as refinancing, buying a new house, or opening new lines of credit for access to money. Regardless of customer sentiment, it's important for businesses to understand these realities: Consumer demand for digital is increasing — our research shows it's gone up 20% since Covid-19 Digital channels will help fuel new business — with a marked 40% increase in consumers opening new loans digitally based on our research These indicators should drive investment in solutions to secure the digital channel and improve digital onboarding, including data, analytics, and technology. Such investments help meet consumers’ digital demands, safeguarding your ability to retain existing customers and win new business. >> Download the Global Insights Report Ability to pay Lenders should also be mindful of the volatility of the current environment and ensure their teams rely on data and analytics that enable accurate decisions based on a consumer’s current financial situation. Given active programs established to supplement a decline in consumer income, we are still enjoying a nourished economic environment. However, our research shows that globally, since Covid-19 began, the number of consumers having difficulty paying their bills has doubled, and according to Aite Group, half of consumers in the U.S. reported their household has suffered a loss of employment income since mid-March.1 These conditions enforce the need to have the right tools in place to best assess consumer creditworthiness. Decisioning in the new norm As lenders continue to focus on business health, it’s key to consider operational efficiency and ongoing optimization. Given there is no precedent to the current global pandemic, lenders will need to rely on innovative solutions to learn and adapt in real-time. Our research shows that many businesses know change is needed and are seeking solutions to tackling this challenge. One in five businesses globally lack confidence in the effectiveness of their credit risk and collection decisions since Covid-19 began. Sixty percent plan to increase budget for analytics and credit risk management. Meanwhile, the top three solutions businesses believe will improve operational efficiency when supporting customers’ financial needs are: automated decision management, cloud-based applications, and artificial intelligence. To keep pace and be successful through this unchartered territory, lenders must leverage innovative technologies such as cloud-enabled solutions, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Though today’s lending environment is likely to include levels of volatility for some time, making the right adjustments now can help lenders support consumers and business performance in the long term. >> Get more insights on the impact of Covid-19 on consumer behaviors and business strategies _____ 1 “Uncertainty Is Certain: Consumers’ Financial Outlook at Mid-Year 2020,” Aite Group, July 2020

Download the report People’s changing behaviors to safeguard their health during the ongoing global Coronavirus pandemic has fueled a massive shift to digital channels. As people’s day-to-day routines and behaviors shift, so too is the attention on businesses to find new ways of staying relevant to their customers. Two-thirds of consumers are staying loyal to the businesses they preferred prior to Covid-19. 20% increase in overall online transactions – a 41% increase in online grocery shopping, 40% increase in applying for loans online, and a 22% increase in food delivery or takeout. 50% of consumers surveyed expect to increase their online transactions even more in the next 12-months. Uncertainty for what the next 6-12 months will hold has people and businesses vacillating between optimism and pessimism.  Some likely contributing factors could be public health gains and setbacks for containing the virus, some businesses opening only to close again, and the prospect of some students returning to school in-person and while others go remote – and what all of that means for economic recovery. At the time of our study (June 30 -July 7, 2020), some lenders and retailers are demonstrating more confidence than others, while consumers - many already feeling depleted - are expecting and bracing for an expected second wave of Covid-19.  Consumer financial hardship 65% of people believe their country has not yet recovered from the economic impact of the pandemic. 30% of consumers reported a decline in household income; India saw the largest household decline at 43%. The number of people having difficulty paying their bills has doubled since Covid-19 began. Businesses operational challenges 53% of businesses believe their operational processes have mostly or completely recovered since Covid-19 began. The U.S. (80%) is the most confident and Germany (27%) is the least. Top challenges faced by most businesses globally are the health and safety of their employees and customers, adjusting operations to support customers, and managing increased demand across channels and functions. 1 in 5 businesses surveyed lacks confidence in the effectiveness of their credit risk and collection decisions since Covid-19 began.  Beyond their intense focus on the safety and security of their employees and customers, our research shows that businesses are making strategic investments – to give consumers greater access to goods and services, and to better manage their customer relationships. They’re also exploring automation and cloud technology to relieve operational constraints. Whether it’s a lender providing financial assistance to small businesses and loan re-payment options to customers or it’s a retailer providing essential supplies and services to people who need it most, helping people and delivering on expectations for secure, relevant customer experience is top of mind. Top areas of investment: strengthening the security of mobile and digital channels, new credit risk analytics, and the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) models and increasing digital customer acquisition and engagement. Top 3 solutions businesses believe will improve operational efficiency when supporting customers’ financial needs are automated decision management, cloud-based applications, and artificial intelligence. 60% of businesses plan to increase the budget for analytics and credit risk management. Businesses in the UK, U.S., Australia, and Spain have already increased the adoption of AI and advanced analytics. To solve for the lack of economic precedent, 51% of businesses say they’re asking customers to contribute more information/data and 49% say they’re exploring new or alternative data sources. Download Experian's Decision Analytics Global Insights Report July/August 2020 and learn more about the impact of Covid-19 on consumer behaviors and business strategies

We've compiled the top global July headlines you need to stay in-the-know on the latest hot topics and insights from our experts. 1. Accelerating forward: How Covid-19 has changed banking foreverChris Fletcher, SVP Decision Management & Cloud Services, covers how Covid-19 forced banks to deliver a convenient, engaging, relevant and secure digital experience, and how this fundamentally changes how banks operate and deliver value to customers. 2. Q&A: Importance of fraud trends as businesses open upDigital Journal recently spoke with EK Koh, SVP of Global Identity & Fraud Solutions, on what businesses need to do to be prepared for issues around cybersecurity and fraud as they open back up the economy. 3. Businesses need to modernize their approach for delivering digital experiencesBirger Thornburn, CTO of Decision Analytics, shares how the rapidly changing environment has greatly accelerated the shift from offline to digital interactions. 4. Experian’s 2 latest moves to combat fraudAuto Fin Journal addresses Experian ramping up efforts to curtail synthetic identity fraud, a significant challenge for lenders and finance companies, and strengthen solutions to help businesses more quickly respond to rising fraud threats due to the Covid-19 global health crisis. 5. AI at Experian with Shri SanthanamShri Santhanam, our Head of Global AI & Analytics at DA, participated in the Artificially Intelligent podcast discussing ways to approach AI in a holistic way, always with a view to realizing the desired business outcomes and strategic impact. In this dynamic environment, stay up-to-date with our latest Research:

Chris Ryan, Senior Fraud Business Consultant, talks to Nick Zulovich at the Auto Remarketing podcast about the new ways we are seeing fraud surface as the global pandemic evolves. "The pattern of activity that we're seeing that has really attracted my interest is this notion of human farming. A human farm is a pool of paid labor who research information on potential fraud victims using data that's been stolen through data breaches and using information that people publish through social media and other outlets. The objective of a human farmer is to be able to assemble a detailed profile of a potential fraud victim so that the perpetrator can better impersonate them and navigate around potential security measures and other obstacles that would normally be in the way." Chris Ryan, Senior Fraud Business Consultant Why the opportunity for human farming? People are out of work so there's a recruitment opportunity for those in need of an income. There is a flood of people into the online space who might not ordinarily engage digitally. This demographic may not be tech-savvy and maybe more susceptible to fraud methods such as phishing. Resources that typically screen for fraud are suffering due to office closures. The combination of high tech fraud to find potential victims plus skilled human intelligence makes these methods highly effective. New trend amidst new circumstances - the rise of synthetic ID Remote transactions combined with the high-value nature of the auto industry makes it a very attractive prospect to fraudsters. Even though purchases are down, the fraudsters are still active. Synthetic identity fraud, in particular, continues to be attractive because the identities are not real and therefore not suffering from the same downturn as genuine profiles. Listen to the full podcast here. Related articles: Getting to grips with the shifting fraud landscape Infographic: Top Global Fraud Trends 2020 Covid-19 as a Gateway to Fraud: Top 5 Global Fraud Trends to Watch Out for in 2020