Ekata and ADVANCE.AI Partnership Will Strengthen Enterprise Digital Identity and Risk Solutions

SINGAPORE, 2 November, 2021 – Ekata, a Mastercard company that empowers businesses to enable frictionless transactions and combat fraud, today announced a partnership with Singapore-based artificial intelligence (AI) and big data company ADVANCE.AI to offer B2B digital identity solutions and risk products across South and Southeast Asian markets.

Ekata’s Account Opening solution will be integrated into ADVANCE.AI’s core suite of services comprising digital identity verification, risk and credit scoring, and digital lending. This will enable ADVANCE.AI to deliver global data and risk insights to its customers, helping them reduce friction in the customer onboarding process, improve conversions and combat fraud. ADVANCE.AI serves enterprises in the banking, financial services, fintech, payments, retail and ecommerce sectors.

COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation and led to a massive surge in ecommerce. According to Facebook and Bain and Co, an estimated 70 million more people are shopping online in Southeast Asia since the pandemic began. The region will have about 350 million online shoppers by the end of 2021.^[1]

As online transactions grow, merchants battle fraud – payment fraud, identity theft and fake accounts. In 2019, Southeast Asia lost US$260 million to digital fraud, with 71% from identity theft, 66% from phishing activities and 63% from account fraud. Identity verification is at the core of seamless and fraud-free transactions, helping businesses identify genuine customers quickly and enabling them to transact easily. Ultimately, this helps businesses deliver frictionless experiences.

Tom Donlea, Vice President and General Manager for APAC, Ekata, said: “As fraudulent users become more technologically advanced, it is critical for businesses to adopt sophisticated fraud management solutions to both protect their customers and enhance customer experience. Our strategic collaboration with ADVANCE.AI further cements our commitment to helping businesses build frictionless experiences and customer trust. We are well positioned to do this through our identity verification solutions which validate customers’ identities seamlessly and securely. Together with ADVANCE.AI, we will empower businesses to combat fraud and offer seamless transactions.”

Dong Shou, CEO of ADVANCE.AI, said: “Adding Ekata’s identity intelligence further strengthens ADVANCE.AI’s powerful, enterprise-grade suite of capabilities combining data, decisioning and analytics. Together, we are creating a holistic One-Stop Platform that accelerates and simplifies customer onboarding, risk management and business transformation. The end result for businesses is better resource efficiency, faster time to market and lower costs.”

Ekata’s global data partner network includes merchants, financial institutions, payments, travel companies and ecommerce marketplaces and digital currency platforms. Ekata’s customers and partners in Asia Pacific include Cybersource, AirAsia and Humm group.

 

About Ekata
Ekata Inc., a Mastercard company, empowers businesses to enable frictionless experiences and combat fraud worldwide. Our identity verification solutions are powered by the Ekata Identity Engine, which combines sophisticated data science and machine learning to help businesses make quick and accurate risk decisions about their customers. Using Ekata’s solutions, businesses can validate customers’ identities and assess risk seamlessly and securely while preserving privacy. Our solutions empower more than 2,000 businesses and partners, including Alipay, Paypal, and Microsoft, to combat cyberfraud and enable an inclusive, frictionless experience for customers in over 230 countries and territories. Visit Ekata.com to learn more.

About ADVANCE.AI
ADVANCE.AI is a leading AI and big data company in Asia, helping to solve digital transformation, fraud prevention and process automation for enterprise clients. A leader in Artificial Intelligence, risk management and digital lending solutions, it currently partners over 800+ enterprise clients across banking, financial services, fintech, payment, retail and e-commerce sectors. ADVANCE.AI is part of Advance Intelligence Group, one of the largest independent technology startups based in Singapore. Founded in 2016, the Group has presence across South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Greater China. The Group is backed by top tier investors SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Warburg Pincus, Northstar, Vision Plus Capital, Gaorong Capital, Pavilion Capital, GSR Ventures and EDB Investment.

^[1] CNBC: Southeast Asia has added 70 million online shoppers since the beginning of the pandemic, report finds