ATLANTA, April 29, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX), a global information solutions provider, announced today a joint development agreement with Zumigo, a leader in mobile device location and identity verification, to develop a mobile network-based solution that streamlines m-commerce checkout and payments. This system will incorporate identity verification to help prevent mobile transaction fraud by authenticating mobile devices and validating device ownership.
This solution leverages Equifax consumer credit data, carrier billing data and device location information to enable simple, secure mobile transactions, including financial and retail account activation.
Unlike device application-based authentication solutions, this new platform will perform mobile identity verification over the wireless network. This will enable the solution to work with virtually any mobile device, without requiring a dedicated mobile application or demanding a change in consumer behavior. Most importantly to consumers, no consumer data of any kind is stored or cached on their smartphones as a result of the identification process.
"Consumers will fully embrace m-commerce when their mobile devices are more secure than the plastic in their wallets and can be used as a proxy for their identities," said Anand Krishnaswamy, Vice President of Mobile Commerce, Equifax Inc. "Our solution with Zumigo reflects our strategy of employing diverse technology approaches to enable faster, more convenient and more secure mobile transactions."
The network-based solution leverages Zumigo's unique ability to integrate with carrier billing systems to verify ownership of any phone within a consumer's account; thereby reducing fraud in mobile identity theft.
When integrated into a mobile shopping cart, consumers will have the ability to consent to have their checkout forms automatically populated with personal information and payment options. This is critical as manual data entry on a mobile device is one of the leading causes of shopping cart abandonment and errors. For added security, the joint solution will use network location data to verify mobile transactions by confirming that the owner and their phone are in the vicinity of the merchant or ATM at the time of transaction.
"Financial and retail transactions have to be simple and secure no matter where they occur – and for mobile transactions, this requires validating the mobile account owner through the device," said Chirag Bakshi, founder and CEO of Zumigo. "We are leveraging the power of location information, carrier data and Equifax consumer data to solve some of the toughest m-commerce payment and security challenges."
About Equifax
Equifax is a global leader in consumer, commercial and workforce information solutions that provide businesses of all sizes and consumers with insight and information they can trust. Equifax organizes and assimilates data on more than 600 million consumers and 81 million businesses worldwide. The company's significant investments in differentiated data, its expertise in advanced analytics to explore and develop new multi-source data solutions, and its leading-edge proprietary technology enable it to create and deliver unparalleled customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Equifax operates or has investments in 19 countries and is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500® Index. Its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. In 2013, Equifax was named a Bloomberg BusinessWeek Top 50 company, was #3 in Fortune's Most Admired list in its category, and was named to InfoWeek 500 as well as the FinTech 100. For more information, please visit www.equifax.com.
About Zumigo
Zumigo is pioneering a new generation of mobile services predicated on providing a richer experience for customers through more relevant, context- based information. Global solutions support marketing to customers with locations in context and securing financial transactions using mobile infrastructure. Founded in 2008, Zumigo is led by veterans of the mobile and financial industries with years of experience in developing and managing mobile solutions for some of the world's largest carriers and enterprises.
Headquartered in San Jose, California, Zumigo is a venture backed company. For more information, please visit www.zumigo.com.