Commemorating One Year of Fraud Prevention and Identity Solutions Growth with Kount, an Equifax Company

One year ago, Equifax completed its acquisition of Kount, setting out on a journey to harness Kount’s Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven fraud prevention and identity solutions to further our efforts toward enabling strong identity trust and better online customer engagement for global businesses. 

“In 2021, we recognized tremendous potential in Kount – combined with our unique differentiated data assets – to protect businesses and their customers from emerging fraud threats in an increasingly digital world,” said Sid Singh, President of United States Information Solutions (USIS) at Equifax. “Now at our one-year anniversary, we certainly have much to celebrate – and look forward to – in our combined potential as a leader in Digital Identity Trust.”

Here are some highlights from what we’ve accomplished thus far.

 

Preventing fraud and revenue losses 

Within a few months of the acquisition’s close, we leveraged our combined capabilities to help businesses protect against fraud, elevate the customer experience and conduct business with more confidence with the announcement of the Kount Dispute and Chargeback Management Solution. Built on Kount’s AI and Identity Trust Global Network, the solution is a game changer for businesses engaged in e-commerce, helping them save time and money on lengthy and expensive chargeback processes, easily refund purchases and prevent inventory loss, thanks to unprecedented access to true end-to-end chargeback prevention. 

 

Understanding an ever-changing market landscape 

When Equifax first announced plans to acquire Kount back in January of 2021, we were coming out of a year marked by unprecedented shifts across industries amid COVID-19. As the pandemic drove record numbers of customer interactions online, so too increased the challenges businesses faced – from identify verification and fraud, to authentication and automated decisioning. Kount, an Equifax company, sought to not only solve for such challenges, but also help our customers better understand the new challenges. 

The first of its kind “Digital Payments in 2021: Opportunities and Chargeback Risks” survey published by Kount in August 2021 did just that, revealing insights into why many businesses have indicated their chargeback rates have increased, their top chargeback sources and challenges, and how they manage and dispute chargebacks. By revealing opportunities for businesses to elevate their fraud prevention, we can continue to help protect them from growing risks. 

 

Harnessing our potential 

Underscoring the early progress we made in our partnership, Kount was selected in September 2021 for the “Overall Fraud Prevention Solution of the Year” in the annual CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards for their role in protecting businesses from the risks associated with e-commerce with the Dispute and Chargeback Management Solution. 

“With global recognition as a major player in Digital Identity Trust, we are energized now more than ever to continue harnessing our potential to drive identity and fraud growth as an Equifax company,” said Brad Wiskirchen, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Kount, an Equifax company. “As the global adoption of digital transactions continues to grow, Equifax and Kount together have a responsibility as a major global player in Digital Identity Trust to help businesses balance security requirements with the frictionless e-commerce experience consumers demand and deserve.”