MARCH 2004

Trans Union and Acxiom
to Offer Anti-Fraud Product

Information technology continues to drive new product development in the financial services industry. Two large sellers of information-based decision tools recently announced a new partnership to help combat fraud and identity theft. The partnership pairs Trans Union LLC, one of the three major credit repositories in the U.S., and Acxiom Corp., the large data warehouse that owns one of the world’s largest databases of consumer information for targeted marketing.

The jointly created Fraud Management Platform will pull identifying data from both company’s databases. Rick McGraw, business development leader at Acxiom, told the American Banker that Acxiom’s customers had been asking it for a more comprehensive tool to combat fraud. In large part this increased demand for fraud solutions has been driven by a shift of transactions from face-to-face encounters to transactions initiated electronically at retailers. Financial institutions require more sophisticated tools for verifying a customer’s identity. Jeffrey Hellinga, Trans Union’s president of analytical services said "Fraud doesn’t only happen at the beginning of a relationship. It is a risk anytime a customer contacts the institution, for example, to increase a credit line, change an address or consolidate accounts."