Misys, a global application software and services company, launched Misys GeoGuard, which makes use of location-based social media applications to allow customers to confirm their location and authorize bank transactions, simplify access to their money, and reduce fraud.

The process of confirming a customer’s location abroad, and any reimbursement of fraudulent withdrawals from an account, is a significant cost for banks and customers. By leveraging location-based social media applications already in use, Misys has developed a new offering that aims to simplify that process, improve customer service, and help reduce fraud. Misys GeoGuard is a location aggregation service that collates geographic information and enables customers to allow their banks to request their most recent location information, regardless of the services they use.

Edward Taylor, global head of public relations, gives this example: “You are traveling in Europe. You get to Paris and try to pay for something with a card, but the card is rejected. Or you try to take out cash from an ATM and the card is either rejected or worse, swallowed and retained. The reason for this is your bank thinks you should not be in Europe. The majority of banks do not have any capability by which you can advise them you are travelling, so you have to spend time phoning your bank (expensive as well as frustrating) to tell them that you are indeed in Paris and want access to the funds.

“All this could be alleviated if you checked in to one of the many social network location-based services, Facebook Places, Gowalla, FourSquare, TripIt, Twitter, etc. The checking-in service is already available through these networks and [Misys’] application just joins up that information with your bank to allow the bank to know you are where you say you are. It is an opt-in service, so the bank only gets to know if you authorize that to happen,” Taylor says.

“We believe that location-based services should be a key mobile strategy for financial services,” says Marc DeCastro, research director, IDC Financial Insights. “Consumers may engage on social networks more often with financial firms for the promise of increased security over marketing, something consumers are very concerned with.”

“The launch of Misys GeoGuard…can help reduce the cost of fraud to banks,” says Tim Tyler, solution manager, Misys. “By mashing up banking and location-based services, customers will be able to improve control of their funds automatically with a little help from their existing location-based social networks’ interactions. Misys GeoGuard allows the bank to benefit from these social networks in a highly secure way that gives the customer total control and confidence.

Says Taylor: “It is another level of security on transactions. You already have: Who you are (password); what you have (authentication key); and what you are (iris/fingerprint). Now there’s a fourth level of authorization/security—where you are.”

Built and delivered on Force.com, salesforce.com’s social enterprise platform for custom app development, Misys GeoGuard can be implemented on a bank’s existing infrastructure, as there is no on-premise software or hardware to install. Security, scalability, and availability are all handled by the Force.com platform.

Misys GeoGuard does not provide banks with customer tracking information; it lets customers choose their preferred method and frequency for confirming their location to their banks. Misys acts as a third party—never allowing the bank to be in possession of the customer location.

The service can also be offered to a bank’s customers who prefer not to use social networks by allowing integration directly with a bank’s existing channels, such as ebanking and mobile banking. This allows a bank to offer their customers the ability to check-in directly with their bank, and not share their location information elsewhere.

Being able to confirm a customer’s location benefits both banks and consumers through many levels of authentication:

•    Geographic rules on card usage—Prevent false positives on card blocks based on out-of-character locations.

•    Card geo-lock—Prevent a card from being used for any cardholder-present transactions unless the customer has checked in within user-defined parameters based upon radius and time.

•    Card geo-fence—Extend the card geo-lock to allow customers to define pre-approved locations within which there is no requirement for them to check-in.

•    Geo-alert location-based alerts—Receive notifications from Misys GeoGuard when a customer crosses either customer-defined or bank-defined boundaries, for example when arriving in a new country. Alternatively, an alert could be generated when a customer “checks in” to a specific location.

While no bank has yet licensed this service, Taylor says, “We have only just started to talk to banks at this early stage, to a great deal of positive feedback.”


http://www.misys.com/media_press/t/1578/p/1/item/2011-09-14-01-PR-BNK/press_releases.html#mb