Is it really all doom and gloom in the U.S. housing sector?

In our latest quarterly survey of U.S. bank risk professionals, respondents offered an outright dismal picture of the housing sector. When asked if U.S. housing prices would climb back to 2007 levels before the year 2020, 49 percent of respondents said no. By comparison, only 21 percent said yes. And...

Decision optimisation—not just for large FSIs

My colleague Amit Parekh recently hosted a webinar about decision optimisation, which got me thinking about best practices for financial service organisations. To recap, decision optimisation helps risk managers answer complex questions like: How do I run a profitable line increase campaign whilst reducing losses and exposure? How do I...

Join a conversation with PNC Bank’s Gordon Cameron and FICO CEO Mark Greene

What are the approaches that banks are taking to create growth in a weak economy with greater regulation? Join a discussion about this next week with FICO CEO Mark Greene and PNC Bank SVP and Credit Executive Gordon Cameron. This special FICO World Preview Webinar will take place on Friday,...

Credit Counselors Stumped

This week, hundreds of credit counseling executives gathered in San Francisco for the annual leadership conference of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. I participated on a panel to address what The New Credit Normal promises for consumers. As I explained, regulators are helping to empower consumers by having creditors...

UK card data shows rise in cash withdrawals

FICO just released data on Q2 cards performance in the UK. In large part, we’re seeing steady patterns, with higher volatility and risk for both student and Irish cards. One area that shows a slight increase in risk is cash withdrawals. Cash withdrawals as a percentage of total sales for...

Learn more about modeling economic impact on credit risk

The FICO presentation on Economic Impact Grade Migration Modeling that won the Paragon Award for Best Paper at the Credit Scoring and Credit Control XII conference in Edinburgh last month has been posted online, along with the other conference papers, at: www.crc.man.ed.ac.uk/conference/archive/2011.html. I will be giving a webinar on this...

Restoring banking balance

In August, I blogged about the notable regulatory guidance issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which called for increased capital levels and – more significantly – an accelerated timeline mandated by Basel III. I also talked about the three key lessons from global financial crisis: More capital. More liquidity....

FICO® Scores Shift During Recession

A comparison of nationwide FICO® Scores from 2005-2011 illustrates that score distribution has remained relatively stable at a national level. However a close look at the numbers suggests that U.S. lenders have experienced two distinct phases of consumer credit risk in the recession thus far. Early in the recession, lenders...

Brazil takes a positive step forward in data sharing

Although the use of positive bureau data for credit decisions is quite new in Latin America, it’s gaining increased visibility. In Brazil, a bill creating a positive bureau was signed by president Dilma Rousseff just months ago, after an eight-year fight. The bill will take time to be fully implemented,...

Get a FICO World sneak peek at a preview webinar

Are you considering registering for FICO World 2011 but want a taste of what to expect? In the coming weeks, blog authors Daniel Melo and David Molyneaux will present two free FICO World preview webinars, providing a sneak peek into their upcoming FICO World sessions. The FICO World 2011 conference...

Changing payments means changing fraud detection

The traditional credit/debit card has become passé—at least in terms of having a single device with access to only one funding account. Today, a single card can, at the point of sale, access different accounts to fund the payment transaction. Likewise, a mobile device has the capability to make payments...

Bloomberg TV: FICO CEO on Consumer Confidence and the Recovery (video)

On Bloomberg Television's "Countdown," FICO CEO Mark Greene discusses U.S. consumer credit, credit card use, and the U.S. and U.K. housing markets. To watch the video above, view it here.

Bank of England supports counter-cyclical risk approach

Robert Peston, BBC, reported the speech by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Lloyds of London annual dinner: "…. Mr Osborne last night gave a nod that he might agree with Mr Cameron, by lauding a paper recently written by the influential Bank of England economist, Andrew Haldane,...

Closing the Gap on Fraud Model Degradation

Fraudsters are continually adjusting their strategies to circumvent fraud detection systems. In my last few posts, I've been discussing how adaptive analytics are built to counter this problem. Because of this, the latest version of FICO™ Falcon® Fraud Manager leverages adaptive analytics. The adaptive model adjusts the base neural network...

FICO fraud chief discusses mobile banking fraud on Bank Info Security

Bank Info Security has published a bylined article on mobile banking fraud by FICO fraud chief and blog author Mike Urban. In the article, Mike discusses points of vulnerability, as well as security and detection measures. Here's an excerpt: For today's retail banks, mobile banking is seen as table stakes,...

Edinburgh conference award for economic impact modeling

I’m proud to note that FICO’s Johan Jansen van Rensburg and I won the Best Paper Prize at the Credit Scoring and Credit Control XII conference in Edinburgh last week. Our paper was on “Economic Impact Grade Migration Modeling - To Address Pro-Cyclicality in Current Risk Management Practice,” and addresses...