Mr. Robin Findlay is the director in charge of Middle East and Africa for FICO, a global software solution company, with its local partner in Nigeria'- eSofties are deploying solutions to boost online transactions across countries, including Nigeria. In this interview with ADEYEMI ADEPETUN, he bared his mind on the need for Nigeria to be steadfast in tackling online fraud, especially as the country enters the era of Cash-less economy. Excerpts:MANAGING fraud in electronic payment systems has been a global issue. How do you see this trend in an emerging economy such as Nigeria and can software solutions address this threat'Financial fraud is international business and it cuts across the globe. But with the deployment of software solutions, such illicit transactions could be monitored and checked in real time. We have very specific analytic modules that specifically detect financial fraud associated with debit or credit card, and we work closely with the bank to ensure that the situation is well managed.We have a team of trusted consultants that have worked in financial institutions and have great understanding of how fraudsters defraud financial institutions. They are able to discuss with banks and advise them on how to set up their fraud operations. It is not just about deploying and using the software, but how to operationally deal with the problem.In most cases, a number of electronic cards are either compromised, or stolen, so what our consultants do is work with the banks to help put in place the right strategy to deal with such situation.Nigeria recently introduced cash policy system, aimed at reducing high volume of cash in the economy. What role do you see your solution playing in this direction'With cash policy, which is referred to as cashlite economy, people are still going to make financial transactions using various channels like credit cards, debit cards, mobile phones, or through the Internet.Our solution addresses seamless connectivity in all of these channels. With the introduction of Cashlite policy, there is going to be increase in the use of electronic payment systems and this of course means increase in financial fraud and that is where our solutions come into play, to help financial institutions and their customers have safe accounts and healthy financial transactions. Our Falcon solution is sure way to address financial fraud in the system.Most countries like Nigeria do not have cyber laws in place. How can these countries efficiently implement cash policy'Each country has its own cyber laws to protect online transactions, which also include online financial transactions. But as countries continue to come up with regulatory laws, the better it is for our economies. Blaze Advisor from Fico for instance could be used to address issue like this, where all the laws on money laundering could be factor into the solution to address it. To maintain Nigeria's integrity in the cyberspace, there is need for Nigeria to put such laws as cybercrime laws in place.As an expert, do think software security solutions are all that a country needed to curb financial security'Fraud is a global problem and it comes in different shapes and sizes. From Fico Solutions, we have different solutions that address different types of financial fraud. There is applications fraud, money-laundering fraud, and outside of these, there is human angle method in addressing fraud, because humans generate fraud, and the victims of fraud are also human. One thing about fraud is that as you address fraud in one area, hackers are busy looking for other possible ways of defrauding people and institutions. So there should be several ways of fighting fraud in a system.Going by the cash policy initiative by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the expected rise in financial fraud, do suggest Nigerian banks should invest in fraud management'Absolutely, banks should have a Fraud Detective Department and should invest heavily in it. If a bank deploys Falcon Solution for instance, the bank also needs risk managers from the fraud detective department of the bank to take decision on whether to decline a transaction that has been identified by the solution as fraudulent or not. The role of risk managers from the fraud detective department of any bank is very important.What is the cost implication to banks for not have fraud management solution'The cost implication is huge, but because I do not have knowledge of the fraud level in the Nigerian financial sector, I may not be able to give a definite figure on what banks will be losing to fraud, if they do not have fraud management solution, but the truth is that every bank needs such solution to operate healthily, because the losses are in millions of dollars.As an expert, how prepared is the Nigerian financial market to handle the surge in fraud that will emanate from the Cashlite economy'The market is already changing, based on the volume of financial transactions that are currently routed through various e-payment channels.With the change, we are expected to see new trend in financial threat as a result of the increase in volume of transactions through the various e-payment channels. The question then is whether the banks have begun to think of how to handle the new threats that will come with the cashlite economy'That is exactly what our solution is out to address and Fico is coming with over 20 years experience in financial threat management for the Nigerian banks. By deploying our solution, we believe that the new trend in financial threat will definitely be curtailed.In terms of interoperability, how does your solution synchronise seamlessly with existing solutions, should a bank decide to buy into your solution'There are two approaches to this, firstly, the banks has a solution already deployed and wants to deploy Fico solution. What the banks should do is to liaise with our consultants that will advise them on what best to do. Our fraud consultants know how best to set up the strategy that will deal with the situation.Secondly, if the banks have Anti-money Laundering Solution or Fraud management solution in place already, what Fico solution does is to build on the existing solution in a seamless manner and help the banks to achieve greater efficiency.Deploying a new solution demands proper training of personnel to handle it. Does Fico provide training on its solutions, especially local content development'Absolutely, we offer training for any of our products deployment. We train our customers and transfer knowledge to them so that they can run their business most effectively. The intention for Fico is that customers should be able to understand the solution and stand on their own to manage it hence we offer real time training on all of our products. We absolutely provide training, and we support our customers in several ways.How competitive is your solution and what marketing edge have you got, looking at the Nigerian market'Using the Falcon Solution as an example, it has distinctive advantage in the area of its network modules that gives probability of any transaction that is likely fraudulent. This is unique to our Falcon solution, as it rates every transaction in percentage, thus giving the bank the opportunity to detect fraudulent transactions. If it rates any transaction above 50 per cent, then such transaction is likely free from fraudulence. But if the rating is below 40 per cent, then the bank knows there is risk in such transaction, and it is left for the bank to stop the transaction, or better still get advice from the risk management department of the bank.Power in Falcon Solution is the predictive analytics that it has, which enables it to detect fraudulent transactions. We have specific modules for different banks in different countries. Although we do not have specific module for Nigeria yet, but we do is to implement it, gather the data and come and identify the various roles. Falcon solution could identify fraudulent transactions, detect counterfeit cards or compromised cards and quickly stop such transactions.Aside the banks, does Fico solution address the challenges of switching companies who are also involved in driving Cashlite economy'Our solution also addresses issues with switching companies, whom we know play important role in any Cashlite economy. We have deployed our solution to several well known switching companies of the world and they still enjoy the solution.What is the success rate of Falcon Solution deployed in other markets'Falcon has been deployed in several markets of the world like Mexico, South Africa, UK, and it has been very successful.Do you see the state of infrastructure as a challenge to deploying Fico Solutions in Nigeria'We do not see this as a threat because banks are actually building up their infrastructure and they have put in place best infrastructure connecting all their locations to their head offices.Although Nigeria as a country is faced with some infrastructural challenges in the areas of telecoms, power and road networks, but the banks are far ahead and we do not envisage any infrastructural challenge in deploying our solutions in the Nigerian financial institutions.How will your solution make use of the Nigerian local content, in terms of growing the market'We have that in our plans to support local content development in the Nigerian market. For our Blaze Advisor solution, our local partner, eSofties, has built in some local content around it that best address the Nigerian market. It is our desire to see it replicated in all banks. We have the technology, but our local partner has the skills, especially from the Nigerian local content development.What is this product all about and how does it work'In Fico, we have a number of products, but discussed extensively on our Blaze Advisor, which is the leading financial solution in most markets and it is currently being deployed by most banks in Nigeria. It is a transaction monitoring solution that is very flexible to deploy. We spent a lot of time talking about the solution at the conference. Blaze Advisor can be used for Anti- money laundering (AML), credit originations in terms of taking decision on how to manage customers.We also talked about our Falcon solution, which is the world leading protection and prevention product. Falcon has been deployed in several banks outside Nigeria. Falcon protects about two-third of the world's credit cards. Falcon works by protecting and preventing fraud in real time, be it credit cards, debit cards, or transactions within current accounts.It works by using some very complex predictive analytics method to identify which transactions are most likely to be fraudulent. What we do is to work with the banks to develop appropriate strategies on how to deal with those suspected fraudulent transactions. We have used this product to achieve huge success in cutting down millions of fraudulent transactions in the financial sector around the world.What is your projection on your expected market share by the end of the year'It is our expectation to have increased market share before the end of the year. Just like Skye Bank and other banks are currently deploying our solution, we expect that more banks will buy into the solution before the end of the year, because our solutions have been proven to be very efficient, especially in detecting financial fraud.
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