Tag: technology

Jennifer Schulz, CEO of Experian, North America kicked off Experian’s annual Vision conference Tuesday morning pointing to data, analytics, technology and collective curiosity as the drivers for change and a more impactful tomorrow to more than 700 attendees. Keynote speaker: Jennifer Bailey Jennifer Bailey, Vice President of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, spoke about the customer experience “ethos.” She explained how Apple takes a long-term view and values the single most important performance metric as customer experience. She said creating a seamless customer experience comes down to making things simple and understandable, and asking, “Are we solving a customer problem?” and “How are we making it easier for customers to enjoy and liver their lives. Bailey, who said of all apps she uses the weather app the most, also talked about innovation, and that both intent and making mistakes are important parts of the process. Apple’s products are known for their user-friendliness, and design is part of that. She encouraged the audience to give design teams room to create without bottom line pressures and not to be afraid to take well-considered risks. Keynote Speaker: Gary Cohn Gary Cohn, Vice Chairman of IBM, talked about the current economic climate, and while it’s a natural viewpoint to look to the past for guidance, the current environment is unlike any before. Cohn discussed regulatory compliance in the banking industry and prioritizing safety and soundness. While AI is topical and in numerous headlines recently, Cohn reminded the conference goers that AI isn’t new. He said what is new and important is that you can now teach models to find the information needed rather than having to feed all the information yourself. He believes AI is not the end of employment, but rather helps boost productivity, efficiency, and job satisfaction and provides organizations more data. As for advice for the audience, Cohn shared opportunities are in the uncomfortable zones and you have to be willing to fail in order to succeed. Session highlights – Day 1 The conference hall was buzzing with conversations, discussions and thought leadership. Overall themes that were frequently part of the conversation included seamless customer experiences, agility in face of economic changes and leveraging AI/ML into strategies. Fraud automation and preventing commercial fraud More businesses are opening than ever before and lenders and service providers need a way to determine risk from businesses who are less than a year old. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to fraud. A layered solution assesses risk and applies the correct friction to resolve the risk and pass or refer the applicant. Identity Today’s consumer wants a personalized experience and is privacy conscious. Additionally, regulators are also pushing for greater privacy. Clean rooms allow you and a partner to add data to a safe space and learn more about consumers without exposing data. The right data improves acquisition rates, identity verification and allows you to anticipate customer needs. Advanced scoring Data, models and strategy are the levers institutions are using to leverage responsible analytics to meet their objectives like safely growing existing portfolios, managing the “right” level of risk, and providing a seamless digital experience. However, the total value of a decisioning system is almost always constrained by its most rudimentary component. The panel of experts discussed their uses and goals for leveraging models and customer experience was at the top of their priorities. Recession preparedness Delinquency is on the rise and lending offers made continue to drop. Changes in the economic climate require frequent monitoring of portfolio and decisions, benchmarking against peers, updating credit models and decision strategies, and stress testing portfolio and models. Trends in credit risk management While AI at the hands of everyone is topical today, it ranked lowest on the list of trends attendees believed were impacting their business. At the top of the list? The growing demand for simpler, faster and seamless experiences. More insights from Vision to come. Follow @ExperianVision and @ExperianInsights to see more of the action.

 With nearly seven billion credit card and personal loan acquisition mailers sent out last year, consumers are persistently targeted with pre-approved offers, making it critical for credit unions to deliver the right offer to the right person, at the right time. How WSECU is enhancing the lending experience As the second-largest credit union in the state of Washington, Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU) wanted to digitalize their credit decisioning and prequalification process through their new online banking platform, while also providing members with their individual, real-time credit score. WSECU implemented an instant credit decisioning solution delivered via Experian’s Decisioning as a ServiceSM environment, an integrated decisioning system that provides clients with access to data, attributes, scores and analytics to improve decisioning across the customer life cycle. Streamlined processes lead to upsurge in revenue growth   Within three months of leveraging Experian’s solution, WSECU saw more members beginning their lending journey through a digital channel than ever before, leading to a 25% increase in loan and credit applications. Additionally, member satisfaction increased with 90% of members finding the simplified process to be more efficient and requiring “low effort.” Read our case study for more insight on using our digital credit solutions to: Prequalify members in real-time at point of contact Match members to the right loan products Increase qualification, approval and take rates Lower operational and manual review costs Read case study

Experian recently announced Experian Identity and published an advertorial in American Banker outlining the integrated approach to identity that recognizes the full breadth of the company’s authoritative data solutions that help businesses better connect with their consumers in more personalized, meaningful and secure ways. The efforts address the rapidly changing definition and landscape of identity and take on the importance and needs for identity which span across the entire customer journey. From marketing to a specific consumer’s needs, to facilitating a friction-right customer experience, to protecting personal information. As such, there’s a gap for single-partner providers to help businesses navigate this change, while also putting the needs of the consumer first. “Identity data sets are constantly growing with inputs from new interactions. Many future sources of data have yet to be even conceived or developed,” said Kathleen Peters, Chief Innovation Officer, Experian Decision Analytics. “Staying ahead of the identity market curve is vital, and it requires building and continually evolving an enterprise-scale identity solution that interconnects with your own unique data and systems to create attribute-rich profiles of your customers that work across any identity application. That’s Experian Identity.” Experian Identity underscores the need businesses have to respond to increasing identity needs with interconnected, scalable technology, products and services that optimize the consumer experience.       While the integrated approach announcement is new, the capability is not. Experian has been trusted for decades to secure individuals’ identity around the most important decisions in their lives – think purchasing a car or home, being identified at the doctor’s office, and more. As such, consumers remain at the center of every action. Experian Identity offers identity resolution, verification, authentication and protection, and fraud management solutions that include first- and third-party fraud, account takeover, credit card verification, identity resolution and restoration, risk-based authentication, synthetic identity protection and more. Additionally, we’ve included a special blog post introducing Experian’s identity capabilities from Kathleen Peters on the Experian Global News Blog and additional coverage. Stay tuned for more updates. Experian Global News Blog - Making Identities Personal: Experian Helps Businesses Build Consumer Trust American Banker – Making Identities Personal: Building Trust and Differentiating Your Brand Experian White Paper - Making Identities Personal For more information about Experian Identity, visit www.experian.com/identity-solutions.

It's one thing to make a corporate commitment to financial inclusion, but quite another to set specific goals and measure outcomes. What goals should lenders set to make financial inclusion a reality? How can success be quantified? What actionable steps must be taken to put policy into practice? The road to financial inclusion may feel long, but this step-by-step checklist can help you measure diversity and achieve goals to become more inclusive as an organization. Step 1: Set quantifiable goals with realistic outcomes Start by defining what you plan to achieve with a financial inclusion strategy. When setting goals, Alpa Lally, Experian's Vice President of Data Business at Consumer Information Services, recommends organizations "assess the strategic opportunity at the enterprise level." "It is important that KPIs are aligned across each business unit and functional groups in order to understand the investment opportunity and what the business must achieve together," said Lally. "The key focus here is 'together', the path to financial inclusion is a journey for all groups and everyone must participate, be committed and be aligned to be successful." Figuring out your short- and long-term goals should be the first step to kickstarting a financial inclusion strategy. But equally important is driving towards outcomes. For instance, if the goal is to increase the number of loans made to previously overlooked or excluded consumers, you may want to start by examining your declination population to better understand who is being left out. Or if financial inclusion is tied to a wider strategy or vision on corporate social responsibility, your goals may include an education component, community outreach, and a re-examination of your hiring practices. No matter what KPIs you're using, here are relevant questions to ask in four key areas – which will help draw out your organizational goals and priorities: Organizational awareness: What action is your organization taking to enhance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and embrace Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) around financial inclusion? If you already have financial inclusion programs in place, what are the primary goals? Barriers: What barriers prevent the organization from pursuing equity, diversity and inclusion programs? Education: How do you create awareness and education around financial inclusion? Which community or third-party organizations can help you reach consumers who aren't aware of ways to access financial services? Markers of success: What benchmarks will your organization use to measure and analyze success? Step 2: Do a financial inclusion audit Before developing and implementing a robust financial inclusion program, Lally recommends conducting a financial inclusion audit – which is a "detailed assessment of where you are today, relative to the goals and results you've outlined". In a nutshell, it allows you to assess your current systems and results within your financial institution. According to Lally, a financial inclusion audit should address the following key areas: Roadmap: What are your strategic priorities and how will financial inclusion fit within them? Tracking: Track the actual volume and distribution of different underserved populations (e.g., young adults, low-income communities, immigrants, etc.) within your book of business. Look at the applications and the approval rates by segment. In addition, assess the interest rates these consumers are offered by credit score bands for each group: “Benchmarking is critical. Understanding how they compare to national averages? How do they compare to the rest of your portfolio?" said Lally. Hiring practices: Is diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) central to your talent management strategy? Is there a link between a lack of DEI in hiring practices and the level of financial inclusion within an organization? Affordability and access: Determine if the products and services you offer are easily accessible, can be understood by a reasonable consumer and are affordable to a broad base. Internal practices: What policies exist that influence the culture and behavior of employees around financial inclusion? Partnerships: Identify outside organizations that can help you develop financial literacy programs to promote financial inclusion. Advertising: Does your advertising promote equal and diverse representation across a wide range of consumer groups? Tools to measure: Are you financially inclusive as a company? How can you improve? The Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) method used by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) predicts the probability of an individual's race and ethnicity based on demographic information associated with the consumer's surname. Lenders can use this type of information to conduct internal audits or set benchmarks to help ensure accountability in their diversity goals. Step 3: Tap into technology New technology is emerging that gives lenders powerful tools to evaluate a wider pool of prospective borrowers while also mitigating risk. For instance, scoring models that incorporate expanded FCRA-regulated data provide greater insight into 'credit invisible' or 'unscorable' consumers because they look at a wider set of data assets (or 'alternative data'), which allows lenders to assess a larger pool of applicants. It also improves the accuracy of those scores and better assesses the creditworthiness of consumers. Consider these resources, among others: Lift Premium™: Experian estimates that lenders using Lift Premium™ can score 96 percent of U.S. adults, a vast improvement over the 81 percent that are scorable today with conventional scores relying on mainstream data. Such enhanced scores would enable six million consumers who are considered subprime today to qualify for “mainstream" (prime or near-prime) credit. Experian® RentBureau®: RentBureau collects rent payment data from landlords and management companies, which allows consumers to leverage positive rent payment history similarly to how consumers leverage consistent mortgage payments. Clarity Credit Data: Clarity Credit Data allows lenders to see how consumers use alternative financial products and examine payment behaviors that might exist outside of the traditional credit report. Clarity's expanded FCRA -regulated data provides a deeper view of the consumer, allowing lenders to identify those who may not have previously been classified as "at risk" and approve consumers that may have previously been denied using a traditional credit score. Income Verification: Consumers can grant access to their bank accounts so lenders can assess their ability to pay based on verified income and cash flow. In addition, artificial intelligence (AI) and greater automation can reduce operational costs for lenders, while increasing the affordability of financial products and services for customers. AI and machine learning (ML) can also improve risk profiling and credit decisioning by filling in some of the gaps where credit history is not available. These are just a few examples of a wide range of cutting-edge solutions and technologies that enable lenders to promote greater financial inclusion through their decisioning processes. As new solutions are introduced to the market, it is imperative that lenders look into these technologies to help grow their business. Step 4: Monitor and measure Measuring your progress on financial inclusion isn't a one-and-done proposition. After you've set your goals and created a roadmap, it's important to continue monitoring and measuring your progress. That means your performance to gauge the impact of financial inclusion at both the community and business levels. Lally recommends the following examples: Compare your lending pool to the latest population data from the United States census. Is your portfolio representative of the U.S. population or are there segments that should have greater access? How does it compare against other lenders competing in the same space? Keep in mind that it has been widely reported that certain populations were undercounted, so you may want to factor this reality into your assessments. Work to understand how traditionally underserved consumers are performing in terms of their payment behaviors, purchase patterns and delinquencies. Measure the impact of financial inclusion on your company's overall revenue growth, ROI and brand reputation. Conduct an analysis to better understand your company's brand reputation, how it's perceived across different groups and what your customers are saying. Last word Financial inclusion represents a big step towards closing the wealth gap and helping marginalized communities build generational wealth. Given the prevalence of socioeconomic and racial inequality in our country today, it's a complex issue that disproportionately impacts marginalized groups, such as consumers of color, low-income communities and immigrants. Adopting more financially inclusive practices can help improve access to credit for these groups. For financial institutions and lenders, the first step is to identify realistic, quantifiable goals. A successful financial inclusion initiative also hinges on completing a financial inclusion audit, tapping into the right technology and continually monitoring and measuring progress. "It is paramount that financial institutions hold themselves accountable and demonstrate their commitment to make these practices a part of their DNA." - Alpa Lally. Learn more

Experian’s in-person Vision conference returns next Monday, April 11 in Los Angeles, Calif. The event is known for premier thought leadership, net-new insights and the latest and greatest in technology, innovation and data science. This year’s agenda promises to have intentional discussions around tomorrow’s trending topics including financial inclusion, buy now pay later, open banking, the future of fraud, alternative data strategies, and much more. A few spotlight sessions include: Top trends including the future application of the cloud and emerging technologies, emerging regulatory legislation and the broader implications and opportunities of DeFi. A deep dive into strategies around the targeting/marketing revolution and how to deliver in the post-COVID-19 market environments and bolster financial inclusion decisions. An introduction to Experian’s Buy Now Pay Later BureauTM, the industry’s first and only solution designed to address the needs of consumers, BNPL providers, financial institutions and regulators alike. A roundup of sessions addressing innovation in action spanning from real-time verifications, to data-driven automation, and unified platforms from data to deployment to decisioning. Several sessions highlighting future-looking strategies and solutions that leverage alternative data that can increase conversion rates while concurrently reducing risk. Multiple sessions centered on the rapidly changing identity environment and combatting emerging fraud threats. The event will also include a Tech Showcase, where attendees can get a taste of tomorrow today with more than 20 demos and the latest innovations at their fingertips. And, as always, the event features marquee keynote speakers sure to inspire. This year’s featured speakers are Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian, President of Queens’ College, Cambridge, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, and Former CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer of PIMCO; Allyson Felix, Olympic Gold Medalist, co-founder of Saysh, a footwear and lifestyle brand for women, and Right to Play and Play Works ambassador; and the closing keynote will feature actor, investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Ashton Kutcher. Stay tuned for additional highlights and insights on our social media platforms throughout the course of the conference. Follow Experian Insights on Twitter and LinkedIn.  

Experian was recently named a global fintech leader in the Center for Financial Professionals (CeFPro) Fintech Leaders 2022 report, ranking among the report’s top companies within the Credit Risk and Fraud Prevention categories, and in the top 15 Overall Ecosystem Rankings, rising five places from 2021. This award comes at a time where fraud and identity management services are of utmost importance given the rise of digital channels and activity; and as risk management strategies continue to be a priority – especially in times of economic volatility. “This recognition as a fintech leader by industry peers is a testament to how Experian partners with businesses and consumers to enable fintechs with innovative solutions and insights to mitigate credit risk and make better decisions,” said Jon Bailey, Vice President of Fintech at Experian. “Despite times of rapid change, Experian has been and remains committed to focusing on helping our clients with a wide range of challenges by providing valuable solutions. It’s great to see our continued efforts and investments driving positive impact. We will continue to invest and innovate to enable our clients for growth and create opportunities to support their customer-first missions.” Over the past year, Experian has placed bets on helping open-up credit to underserved communities, adapting to changing consumer expectations, addressing the growing threat from fraud, and becoming a more agile technology provider in an ever-changing market while helping clients mitigate credit risk. To learn more about Experian’s solutions that power fintechs, visit our fintech solutions page here. Click here for the full press release and to read more about the award.

Shri Santhanam, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Global Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) was recently featured on Lendit’s ‘Fintech One-on-One’ podcast. Shri and podcast creator, Peter Renton, discussed advanced analytics and AI’s role in lending and how Experian is helping lenders during what he calls the ‘digital lending revolution.’ Digital lending revolution “Over the last decade and a half, the notion of digital tools, decisioning, analytics and underwriting has come into play. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated that, and we’re seeing three big trends shake up the financial services industry,” said Shri. A shift in consumer expectations More than ever before, there is a deep focus on the customer experience. Five or six years ago, consumers and businesses were more accepting of waiting several days, sometimes even weeks, for loan approvals and decisions. However, the expectation has dramatically changed. In today’s digital world, consumers expect lending institutions to make quick approvals and real-time decisions. Fintechs being quick to act Fintech lenders have been disrupting the traditional financial services space in ways that positively impacts consumers. They’ve made it easier for borrowers to access credit – particularly those who have been traditional excluded or denied – and are quick to identify, develop and distribute market solutions. An increased adoption of machine learning, advanced analytics and AI Fintechs and financial institutions of all sizes are further exploring using AI-powered solutions to unlock growth and improve operational efficiencies. AI-driven strategies, which were once a ‘nice-to-have,’ have become a necessity. To help organizations reduce the resources and costs associated with building in-house models, Experian has launched Ascend Intelligence Services™, an analytics solution delivered on a modern tech AI platform. Ascend Intelligence Services helps streamline model builds and increases decision automation and approval rates. The future of lending: will all lending be done via AI, and what will it take to get there? According to Shri, lending in AI is inevitable. The biggest challenge the lending industry may face is trust in advanced analytics and AI decisioning to ensure lending is fair and transparent. Can AI-based lending help solve for biases in credit decisioning? We believe so, with the right frameworks and rules in place. Want to learn more? Explore our fintech solutions or click below. Listen to Podcast Learn more about Ascend Intelligence Services

The COVID-19 pandemic has created shifting economic conditions and rapidly evolving consumer preferences. Lenders must keep up by re-evaluating their strategies to accelerate growth and beat the competition. Here's how AI/ML can help your organization evolve post-COVID-19: With the democratization of AI/ML, lenders of all sizes can now use this technology to grow their lending and optimize for strategic growth. Register for our upcoming webinar to see how lenders like Elevate have incorporated this new technology into their business processes. Register now

Digitalization, also known as the process of using digital technology to provide new opportunities for revenue and growth, continues to remain a top priority for many organizations in 2021. In fact, IDC predicts that by 2024, “over 50% of all IT spending will be directly for digital transformation and innovation (up from 31% in 2018).”[1] By combining data and analytics, companies can make better and more instant decisions, meet customer expectations, and automate for greater efficiency. Advances in AI and machine learning are just a few areas where companies are shifting their spend. Download our new white paper to take a deep dive into other ongoing analytics trends that seem likely to gain even greater traction in 2021. These trends will include: Increased digitalization – Data is a company’s most valuable asset. Companies will continue utilizing the information derived from data to make better data-driven decisions. AI for credit decisioning and personalized banking – Artificial intelligence will play a bigger role in the world of lending and financial services. By using AI and custom machine learning models, lending institutions will be able to create new opportunities for a wider range of consumers. Chatbots and virtual assistants – Because customers have come to expect excellent customer services, companies will increase their usage of chatbots and virtual assistants to facilitate conversations. Cloud computing – Flexible, scalable, and cost-effective. Many organizations have already seen the benefits of migrating to the cloud – and will continue their transition in the next few years. Biometrics – Physical and behavioral biometrics have been identified as the next big step for cybersecurity. By investing in these new technologies, companies can create seamless interactions with their consumers. Download Now [1] Gens, F., Whalen, M., Carnelley, P., Carvalho, L., Chen, G., Yesner, R., . . . Wester, J. (2019, October). IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2020 Predictions. Retrieved January 08, 2021, from https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US45599219

Experian recently announced the new members named to its Fintech Advisory Board. The board and its members provide Experian with valuable insights and key perspectives into the unique and quickly evolving needs of the fintech industry. “For years Experian has been committed to partnering with innovators in the fintech industry to bring better opportunities to businesses and consumers alike,” said Experian North American CEO Craig Boundy. “We appreciate the thought leadership we get from our Fintech Advisory Board members and the challenge and the push that comes along with it,” he said. The board met virtually last month, welcoming representatives from across the fintech ecosystem representing payments, personal and secured loan lenders, credit card issuers, investors and others. “This was my first board meeting with Experian, and I’m very pleased to see the investment Experian has put into being the best of the three major bureaus in having the best technology to enable us to turnaround our models more quickly, and better data and alternative data sources like Boost,” said one of the new executives appointed to the board. “We are delighted to gather this group of innovators together to ensure we are consistently meeting the needs of our fintech partners,” said Experian Vice President Jon Bailey, who oversees the fintech vertical.  “Now more than ever it’s important that we work alongside them in shaping the industry and helping them meet their goals for the future,” he said. Experian’s fintech vertical provides leading-edge solutions and data across the credit lifecycle specifically designed to impact Fintech and marketplace lending companies and their customers. For more information on Experian’s fintech services or the advisory board, click here.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting rush to transition to a remote lifestyle made it clear that many businesses need a refreshed digital authentication and fraud prevention strategy that includes an investment in technology and provides consumer assurance. This is particularly important when it comes to identity, as many of the standard in-person verification methods and tools are currently unavailable. The meaning of identity is growing and shifting Technology trends are intersecting with social trends to create heightened awareness, and a whole new public conversation has emerged around customer trust and privacy. Attitudes and ideas are changing—even to the point of what we mean by “identity.” An identity is no longer just a name, date of birth, and SSN. Now, there are digital manifestations everywhere you look: screen names, email addresses, mobile phone numbers, device identifiers, and the other “exhaust” we leave behind as we travel the internet. This leads to concerns about what an identity is, who owns it, and who manages and protects it. Businesses have to be able to prove to their ability to protect their customers’ identities through investment in technology and a robust fraud strategy. Consumer attitudes are changing Several years ago, consumers were excited by all the new digital capabilities and the speed, ease, and convenience they provided. Last year, Experian found that consumers still wanted those things, with 70% willing to provide more information to businesses if there was a perceived benefit. However, they also wanted more security in the balance. In Experian’s most recent Global Identity and Fraud Report, we found that 74% of consumers say that security is the most important factor when deciding to engage with a business. Consumers are particularly more tolerant of friction during the enrollment process—as a means of building trust. But, when they return to the app or website, they want to be recognized. This means achieving a balance by using layered technologies, some of which are active and visible to the consumer, and some of which are invisibly working in the background to confirm the identity of returning consumers. Consumer attitudes vs. regulatory pressure The drivers behind the business changes are twofold: shifting consumer attitudes and regulatory changes. While regulations are becoming stricter on a national and global level, they’re not keeping pace with technology and social change. The digital world is evolving at a rapid pace, opening up more new ways for companies to collect information about consumers and use it to identify and verify, and also to target goods and services. With all of this data available, it’s important for businesses to use the tools in the market to help protect identity information. Next steps in technology The bottom line is, businesses can’t wait for regulations to dictate how best to protect information. Instead, they should be looking to technologies like physical and behavioral biometrics to help provide identity authentication and protection – layering those solutions with information from the user and from third parties to give a holistic consumer view. Businesses should adopt a platform approach for identity and fraud in order to be able to adapt quickly, whether to incorporate new kinds of technology or to prevent emerging types of fraud. By investing in technology now, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses can build the flexibility needed to respond to future crises and help offset future fraud losses. In turn, those fraud-loss savings can then be used to help grow the business in the future. Learn more about Experian’s commitment to helping businesses maximize their investment in technology to safeguard against fraud. Learn more

This week, Experian released a new version of our CrossCore® digital identity and fraud risk platform, adding new tools and functionality to help businesses quickly respond to today’s emerging fraud threats. The ability to confidently recognize your customers and safeguard their digital transactions is becoming an increasing challenge for businesses. Fraud threats are already rising across the globe as fraudsters take advantage of the global health crisis and rapidly shifting economic conditions. CrossCore combines risk-based authentication, identity proofing and fraud detection into a single cloud platform, which means businesses can more quickly respond to an ever-changing environment. And with flexible decisioning orchestration and advanced analytics, businesses can make real-time risk decisions throughout the customer lifecycle. “Now more than ever, businesses need to lean on capabilities and technology that will allow them to rapidly respond in these challenging times, increase identity confidence in every transaction, and provide a safe and convenient experience for customers,” said E.K. Koh, Experian’s Senior Vice President of Global Identity & Fraud Solutions in a recent press release. “This new CrossCore release enables businesses to easily leverage best-in-class, pre-integrated identity and fraud services through simple self-service.” This new version of CrossCore features a cloud architecture, modern user interface, progressive risk assessments, faster response times, self-service workflow configuration, and a transactional volume reporting dashboard. These enhancements give you a simpler way to manage how backing applications are utilized, allow you to analyze key performance indicators in near real-time, and empower you to catch more fraud faster - without impacting the customer experience. “Recent Aite Group research shows that many banks have seen digital channel usage increase 250% in the wake of the pandemic, so ensuring a seamless and safe customer experience is more important than ever,” said Julie Conroy, Research Director at Aite Group. “Platforms such as CrossCore that can enable businesses to nimbly respond to changing patterns of customer behavior as well as rapidly evolving attack tactics are more important than ever, as financial services firms work to balance fraud mitigation with the customer experience.” CrossCore is the first identity and fraud platform that enables you to connect, access, and orchestrate decisions across multiple solutions. With the newest version, Experian enhances your ability to consolidate numerous fraud risk signals into a single, holistic assessment to improve operational processes, stay ahead of fraudsters, and protect your customers. Read Press Release Learn More About CrossCore

Last week, artificial intelligence (AI) made waves in the news as the Vatican and tech giants signed a statement with a set of guidelines calling for ethical AI. These ethical concerns arose as the usage of artificial intelligence continues to increase in all industries – with the market for AI technology projected to reach $190.61 billion by 2025, according to a report from MarketsandMarkets™. In the “Rome Call for Ethics,” these new principles require that AI systems must adhere to ethical AI guidelines to protect basic human rights. The doctrine says AI must be developed with a focus on protecting and serving humanity, and that all algorithms should be designed by the principles of transparency, inclusion, responsibility, impartiality, reliability, security and privacy.  In addition, according to the document, organizations must consider the “duty of explanation” and ensure that decisions made as a result of these algorithms are explainable, transparent and fair. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly used in many applications and ingrained into our everyday lives (facial recognition, lending decisions, virtual assistants, etc.), establishing new guidelines for ethical AI and its usage has become more critical than ever. For lenders and financial institutions, AI is poised to shape the future of banking and credit cards. AI is now being used to generate credit insights, reduce risk and make credit more widely available to more credit-worthy consumers. However, one of the challenges of AI is that these algorithms often can’t explain their reasoning or processes. That’s why AI explainability, or the methods and techniques in AI that make the results of the solution understandable by human experts, remains a large barrier for many institutions when it comes to AI adoption. The concept of ethical AI goes hand-in-hand with Regulation B of the Equal Opportunity Act (ECOA), which protects consumers from discrimination in any aspect of a credit transaction and requires that consumers receive clear explanations when lenders take adverse action. Adverse action letters, which are intended to inform consumers on why their credit applications were denied, must be transparent and incorporate reasons on why the decision was made – in order to promote fair lending. While ethical AI has made recent headlines, it’s not a new concept. Last week’s news highlights the need for explainability best practices for financial institutions as well as other organizations and industries. The time is now to implement these guidelines into algorithms and business processes of the present and future. Join our upcoming webinar as Experian experts dive into fair lending with ethical and explainable AI. Register now

While many companies are interested in implementing technology with advanced analytic capabilities, the concepts behind the technology can often be hard to understand. Demystifying the terminology around artificial intelligence and machine learning is one of the first steps for successful implementation. Discover what they mean for your financial institution in our new infographic: Learn more

Machine learning, once a mysterious and unknown field, has come a long way throughout the years. Now, it's being implemented across a variety of industries - and expertise in all things related to machine learning is in high demand. Take a journey through the history of machine learning in our new infographic: Read the e-book