PAYSTRAX partners with Featurespace to boost fraud detection

PAYSTRAX has partnered with Featurespace, a fraud and financial crime prevention company, to enhance fraud detection and prevention capabilities in the UK and Europe.

The collaboration aims to address significant losses in online payments due to fraud, projected to reach USD $343 billion globally by 2027, according to research data published by Merchantsavvy. PAYSTRAX, a payment processing provider for merchants in the UK and EU, will leverage Featurespace’s technology to analyse transactional behaviour and identify suspicious activities.

The solution offered by Featurespace provides PAYSTRAX with real-time data analytics, enabling it to recalibrate rules swiftly to identify and prevent new forms of fraud. This system helps detect suspicious activities and predicts fraud risk on each transaction, generating alerts and identifying high-risk merchants. Featurespace will also provide ongoing consultancy support as part of the partnership.

Wolfgang Specht, Head of Merchant Risk and Project Management at PAYSTRAX, emphasised the significant impact of Featurespace's technology on their operations. "Featurespace's solution provides unprecedented speed and accuracy of insight into merchant transactional behaviours and history, giving us peace of mind as we optimise our decision-making and the processing of genuine or fraudulent transactions," he said.

"With Featurespace, we can process data within minutes and quickly adapt to changing rules. Featurespace is an invaluable partner. Their technology will undoubtedly enhance our ability to support merchants in today's real-time transaction landscape."

Martina King, CEO of Featurespace, expressed gratitude for the partnership opportunity. "We thank PAYSTRAX for their selection of Featurespace to support their fast-growth trajectory and meet the needs of their customers across the UK and Europe. PAYSTRAX can now quickly, securely, and cost-efficiently protect the electronic payments of their merchants. In partnership, we can identify and stop fraud and financial crime and make the world a safer place to transact," she commented.

PAYSTRAX collaborates with over 20 global partners and serves over 500 customers across the UK and the European Economic Area. By integrating Featurespace's Merchant Monitoring solution, PAYSTRAX aims to improve its fraud detection capabilities, aligning with its focus on high technology, data security, and innovation. This commitment to security is part of the company’s broader goal to provide valuable services to its partners and merchants.

Featurespace's technology has demonstrated efficacy in the past by significantly reducing fraud losses and minimising the number of genuine transactions declined. For instance, a previous implementation with a global payments processor resulted in a 50% reduction in fraud losses and an 81% decrease in declined legitimate transactions.

The partnership addresses the broader issue of financial crime, which includes money laundering. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that money laundering contributes up to USD $2 trillion annually, or up to 5% of global GDP. By employing sophisticated fraud prevention measures, PAYSTRAX and Featurespace aim to mitigate these risks and provide merchants with a more secure payment processing environment.