Half of bankers say 2012 will be less profitable for banks

Last week the Bank of England released a study showing that UK bankers’ confidence has dipped sharply over the last six months. We have seen similar results in our recent surveys of risk managers in the US and Europe. Here’s another data point: At FICO World 2011 earlier this month,...

Is the Chinese Consumer Ready to Drive Global Economy?

As we approach the end of the year, I’m having numerous discussions with banking executives and other clients about where we see the global and local Asia Pacific economy performing next year. I was asked to opine on this for Singapore’s business daily, Business Times. In short: Globally, it often...

Rising Stars v. Fallen Angels: Insights into changing credit behavior

FICO® Score migration patterns offer significant insight into consumer credit behavior. There's much to be learned by exploring these patterns—particularly whose score went up, whose went down and whose stayed the same—during dynamic economic times. We've just published new research analyzing score movement during recent economic volatility, from October 2006...

UK cardholders paying less of their card balances

FICO has just released UK card data for September that shows a worrying pattern. The percentage of their balance that holders of classic cards paid off in September hit a two-year low. Combined with a rise in cash usage and lower average credit lines, the data suggests that consumers are...

Predictive Analytics in the Cloud

The following guest post was written by James Taylor, CEO of Decision Management Solutions. Individually, predictive analytics and cloud computing are hot topics in business today. But what's the potential for the intersection of these two exciting technologies? Based on new research and a recent survey of over 200 professionals,...

Banking Health in Asia: FICO on CNBC (video)

On CNBC Squawk Box, FICO blog author and APAC managing director Dan McConaghy discusses how Asian banks are actively demanding analytics to understand their customers better in a risky environment. If you have difficulty viewing the video above, view it here.

Push boundaries to accelerate analytic learning

Accelerating analytic learning—it’s one of the top challenges my team is working to solve with many FICO clients. No wonder it’s been a running theme on this blog, and of my own posts. Our most successful clients are accelerating analytic learning by pushing the boundaries beyond traditional champion/challenger testing. Here’s...

The Hidden Benefits of Social Banking

Retail Banker International has published "The Hidden Benefits of Social Banking," a blog post by FICO's Mike Gordon, vice president and managing director of EMEA. In the post, Mike discusses the use of social and digital channels for collections and recovery. Here's an excerpt: Placing the customer in control of...

Analytics for more profitable originations

One way FICO clients are boosting profits in originations is by using analytics that provide critical insights into a wider range of factors affecting the performance of new accounts. Here are three key areas where we've found analytics can sharpen origination decisions: 1. Macro-economic impacts on credit risk Analytics can...

Risk management gains strength in Europe

In my previous post, I discussed some of the more negative findings from our new European Credit Risk Outlook. But it’s not all doom and gloom. In our recent survey, credit risk managers across Europe clearly indicate that they are better prepared now to deal with a rise in risk....

PNC's Gordon Cameron calls for a new approach to lending

In his keynote address today at FICO World 2011, PNC Executive Vice President and Credit Executive Gordon Cameron said that banks need a new approach to lending, in order to adapt to a fast-changing marketplace and economic pressures. Speaking to a sold-out audience of 700 bankers from 42 countries, Cameron...

European borrowers headed for trouble

The latest European Credit Risk Outlook, based on a survey of risk managers by FICO and Efma, gives a different picture than the one we released in June. The optimism in that report has largely slipped away. Credit risk managers across Europe now expect that more consumers will have trouble...

Needed: A consumer-led recovery

In his keynote address at FICO World 2011 this morning, FICO CEO Mark Greene laid out an imperative for economic recovery. Banks, he said, need to rebuild the relationship with consumers. Mark cited the recession of 2008 as the first since World War II that was consumer-triggered, starting with consumer...