Mastercard launches Decision Intelligence in Middle East and Africa at Global Risk Leadership Forum 2017

Mastercard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry, today launched Decision Intelligence, a comprehensive decision and fraud detection service, in the Middle East and Africa region. The solution uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to help financial institutions increase the accuracy of real-time approvals of genuine transactions and reduce false declines. 

The announcement was made at the Mastercard Global Risk Leadership Forum - Middle East and Africa, taking place in Dubai, UAE, from March 20 – 21, 2017.

Current decision-scoring products are focused primarily on risk assessment, working within predefined rules. Decision Intelligence is a radical new approach that goes much further. It takes a broader view in assessing, scoring and learning from each transaction. That score then enables the card issuer to apply the intelligence to the next transaction.

“We are solving a major consumer pain point of being falsely declined when trying to make a purchase,” said Ajay Bhalla, President of Enterprise Risk and Security, Mastercard. “By using AI technology on our global network, we’re helping financial institutions and merchants improve approval rates – and the consumer experience.”

Raghu Malhotra, President, Middle East and Africa, Mastercard, said: "The Mastercard Global Risk Leadership Forum brings together industry leaders from across the globe as we secure the payments environment through collaboration. We constantly strive to get ahead of criminals through innovation and security, and this is why we are launching Decision Intelligence – to help banks and in turn consumers across the Middle East and Africa.”

How It Works

Building on other proprietary services, Decision Intelligence is a new way of solving an old problem using sophisticated algorithms to provide a predictive score to the issuer, based on intelligent analysis. They then incorporate that information into their existing fraud mitigation efforts. Alternatively, issuers can activate the holistic Mastercard tool, which makes data-driven, real-time decisions tailored to the account, including defined alert and decline thresholds.

The smart technology behind Decision Intelligence examines how a specific account is used over time to detect normal and abnormal shopping spending behaviors. In doing so, it leverages account information like customer value segmentation, risk profiling, location, merchant, device data, time of day, and type of purchase made.

Delivering Value in Every Tap, Dip or Swipe

Over the last few years, the industry has been increasingly focused on protecting payments and combating fraud, which is why striking the right balance in approving transactions and managing fraud is important.
The addition of AI as a core component of the Mastercard network will deliver an enhanced fraud score for every transaction. This new functionality can help improve the accuracy of real-time approvals of genuine transactions and reduce false declines. In specific verticals, like fuel or ATM, the information could be used in real-time to react to potential concerns much quicker, reducing operational expenses like chargebacks.