The joint offering would leverage both firms' artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology to help banks and other payment service providers in North America protect their customers from fraud in the growing world of instant digital payments.

While real-time payments have ushered in a new era of speed and convenience, they have also opened the door for scammers. The Cognizant and FICO offering would tackle this challenge by providing real-time fraud prevention with a seamless integration of the real-time payments rails. The offering is expected to enable the detection and blocking of fraudulent transactions with greater accuracy, minimizing losses, and creating a secure and seamless consumer experience.

"In today's fast-paced financial landscape, staying ahead of fraudsters is crucial. Our collaboration with Cognizant aims to provide stronger protection for real-time payments by combining the Cognizant communication layer and clearing gateway with FICO Falcon Fraud Manager, the leading payments fraud management solution," said Alexandre Graff, Global Head of Partners & Alliances at FICO. "By working together, we're striving to ensure a safe and secure future for real-time payments for multiple payment clearings such as FedNow, RTP, and SEPA Instant Credit Transfer."

For banks of all sizes, this proposed cloud-based solution can be implemented on a pay-per-use or licensing basis, eliminating upfront costs and simplifying the process. Additionally, the proposed solution will handle complex compliance requirements and integration tasks, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations.

"As new instant payments like FedNow Service gain popularity, banks and payment providers need to have guardrails in place to protect customers from the growing number of financial scams," said Nageswar Cherukupalli, Senior Vice President & Business Unit Head of Banking & Capital Markets and Strategic Initiatives of Cognizant. "Our collaboration with FICO intends to provide an AI- and ML-based layer of protection against sophisticated threats by detecting and blocking fraud with granular precision, reducing losses, and improving consumer experience."