The latest version of Fractals, which is already being delivered to customers, incorporates many new features and enhancements to deliver the best possible fraud detection and prevention. For instance, the Fraud Integration Hub, part of the Fractals solution, now brings together intelligence from specialized sources such as mobile geo-location, IP intelligence and device reputation to provide an incredibly rich set of data that is centralized and able to be used for the analysis of any monetary or non-monetary event coming to the system.

Fractals uses a combination of self-learning models and user defined rules to tackle any type of transactional fraud problem. It is used around the world by issuers, acquirers, processors, networks, PSPs, ISOs and merchants, for all retail payment types. The new release includes cross product, cross channel, enterprise fraud detection and prevention.

In addition, the user experience has been modernised and entirely remodelled based on extensive customer feedback, and adjustments have been made to the underlying architecture, which has been uplifted to take advantage of new technologies not available when Fractals was first being developed. Its flexibility and configurability, enabled by its modern platform and architecture, enables it to easily incorporate new payment channels as needed, to build an enterprise view of fraud detection.

"Fraud is constantly evolving and financial institutions, acquirers, card networks and merchants work diligently to keep up. Changes such as the implementation of EMV around the world, including shortly in the US, mean that fraudsters are always on the lookout for the next 'weak link' in the payments chain that they can exploit," said Steve Wright, general manager of Alaric. "The latest version of Fractals arms fraud teams with the best possible technology to protect their account holders and, ultimately, their bottom line."

The latest release incorporates new features designed for merchant acquirers, developed in conjunction with our current customers, to help them identify and prevent fraud at the earliest possible opportunity in the payments lifecycle. It also enables customer of all sizes to write even the most complex rules in a simple, straightforward way – taking rule writing and fraud prevention to a new level.

In addition to its rules technology, Fractals uses Bayesian modelling, instead of the more traditional, neural network technology, which enables it to identify fraud much more accurately from any sized data set. The Bayesian modelling approach also helps Fractals to learn and adapt as fraud patterns emerge and change, delivering the most accurate level of fraud detection with lowest 'false positives' – minimizing the risk of genuine transactions being blocked and improving customer satisfaction.

As with all Alaric's solutions, Fractals enables clients to have total strategic control of their system without dependency on Alaric. This independence means they can adapt the system with new rules whenever they need, without having to turn to Alaric for every change.

All existing customers of Fractals will have the option to upgrade their existing functionality to the new version at no additional license cost – however no older versions of Fractals have ever been 'sunsetted' so customers can remain on older systems until they feel the time is right to upgrade.