BDO taps FICO to fight debit card fraud

Sy-led BDO Unibank Inc. has tapped FICO, a global predictive analytics and decision management software company, to help detect and reduce debit card fraud and expand card usage for internet transactions in the country.

In an e-mailed statement, BDO executive vice president for consumer lending Emmanuel Narciso said the partnership with FICO will allow the bank to expand card usage among its 13 million customers.

"We're aiming for significantly increased purchase usage among our debit cardholders. Our success will depend largely on our ability to assure customers that they can use their cards, both online and in stores, to make purchases in an easy, safe, and secure manner," Narciso said.

According to data from FICO, the Philippines has seen a rise in payment card fraud over the last two years, coinciding with the rapid growth of card adoption and usage.

FICO country director for the Philippines Burton Crapps said in an e-mail response to GMA News Online that FICO's participation will breed consumer confidence in card payments by safeguarding against fraud.

"FICO Falcon Fraud Manager is the most accurate and comprehensive solution for detecting payment card fraud, reducing losses by up to 50 percent...That’s why 17 of the top 20 credit card issuers worldwide rely on the FICO Falcon system to protect transactions in more than 2.5 billion active accounts, including more than 50 million card accounts in Asia Pacific," he said.

According to the company, FICO Falcon Fraud Manager has saved APAC card issuers more than $1.5 billion since its introduction in 1992.

BDO has first tapped FICO for its credit card business in 2012.

"FICO first started to work with BDO to help them manage card fraud in 2012. The project started with the bank’s credit cards before moving to its debit portfolio," Crapps said.

"[BDO] is one of the first, but Standard Chartered bank and Metrobank have also engaged FICO to assist them with fraud. Worldwide, FICO has been working in the fraud field for banks for more than twenty years," he added.

The solution uses advanced neural networks to analyze cardholder account transactions in real time to detect fraud. — Danessa O. Rivera/BM, GMA News