Combination of Equifax and Kount Enables Global Businesses to Harness Power of AI to Establish Strong Digital Identity Trust and Foster Online Customer Engagement
Equifax, announced today that it has closed the acquisition of Kount, a provider of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven fraud prevention and digital identity solutions. The definitive agreement to acquire Kount was announced on January 8, 2021. With this acquisition, Equifax expands the company’s worldwide footprint in digital identity and fraud prevention solutions, enabling global businesses to harness the power of AI to establish strong digital identity trust and better engage with their customers online.
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“COVID-19 has driven customer interactions online in record numbers. As digital transformation accelerates, the risk of online fraud has also multiplied in a way that we believe will permanently alter the online landscape,” said Mark W. Begor, CEO of Equifax. “The combination of Kount solutions with Equifax differentiated data assets and cloud capabilities will enable us to quickly take advantage of new fraud prevention and digital identity offerings to deliver for our customers and drive Equifax growth. Our strong 2020 financial performance and balance sheet allowed Equifax to reinvest our outperformance in Kount while continuing to look for attractive acquisitions to strengthen our data assets and solutions.”
The Kount Identity Trust Global Network uses AI to link trust and fraud data signals from 32 billion digital interactions, 17 billion devices, and five billion annual transactions across 200 countries and territories. As more signals are collected and combined with Kount’s AI-driven analytic insights, the Network becomes more predictive, helping to prevent digital fraud and protect against account takeovers in real time while enabling personalized customer experiences.
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“The combination of Kount and Equifax will help more businesses around the world to better protect their digital presence and their customers against emerging threats while offering a frictionless customer experience,” said Sid Singh, president of United States Information Solutions (USIS) at Equifax. “This acquisition further positions Equifax as a major global player in Digital Identity Trust, which is increasingly important as ecommerce and consumer finance converge, and both require establishing accurate trust levels in real time.”
Kount, an Equifax company, is now part of the USIS business unit at Equifax. Kount CEO Bradley Wiskirchen has assumed the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager of the new Boise, Idaho-based division of Equifax USIS.
“By joining Equifax, Kount is teaming up with a trusted brand with a large global presence, enabling us to further accelerate growth, innovation and fraud protection across the entire customer journey,” said Wiskirchen. “We are excited for how this new combination will elevate digital experiences and identity trust by offering Kount’s industry-leading solutions alongside an expansive set of Equifax data, analytics and products.”
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