South African banking leader innovates with WhatsApp and FICO® Customer Communication Services to engage customers instantly and drive measurable results

JOHANNESBURG: Absa Group Limited, one of South Africa’s “big 5” banks, has dramatically improved debt collection strategies and fraud protection using customer communications technology from global analytics software leader FICO (NYSE:FICO). By using WhatsApp to instantly confirm suspected fraud transactions with customers, Absa improved self-solve cases by 47% for digital and card fraud and prevented significantly more fraud. Furthermore, Absa improved fraud investigation customer communication by 121%, leading to improved fraud customer experience throughout the investigation stages. For its results in both fraud management and debt collection, Absa has won a 2026 FICO® Decision Award, chosen by an independent panel of judges.

More information: https://www.fico.com/en/customer-lifecycle/contact-and-communicate

“Absa serves 13 million customers across Africa, and therefore recognized the critical need for constant adaptation and innovation in fraud prevention strategies. Absa operates within a dynamic banking environment shaped by rising fraud risks, customer vulnerabilities, and mounting regulatory pressures. To protect our customers and support them when they need us most, we needed smarter, faster ways to communicate," said Ally Mafunzwaini, Executive of Absa Fraud Solutions.

Against a backdrop of high inflation, interest rate increases and mounting pressure on South African households in recent years, Absa took proactive steps to help customers remain on track with their credit commitments and protect themselves against elevated fraud attempts. Absa collaborated with FICO to improve both fraud prevention and debt collection strategies through deploying FICO® Customer Communication Services (CCS) in both areas.

Groundbreaking WhatsApp Integration Delivers Measurable Results

Working with FICO, Absa became the first bank among South Africa's “big 5” and the only pan-African bank to use WhatsApp for fraud prevention and customer communication throughout the fraud case journey. Absa integrated FICO CCS with its fraud detection infrastructure, specifically FICO® Falcon® Fraud Manager, to deliver real-time, two-way fraud verification via WhatsApp.

When suspicious activity is detected, CCS initiates an interactive message to the customer via WhatsApp conversation within milliseconds, or a recorded voice note or SMS if the customer does not have a smartphone. Customers can instantly confirm whether the transaction is legitimate or fraudulent. If it’s fraudulent, CCS automatically brings a fraud representative into the conversation.

Similarly, Absa deployed FICO CCS to improve communications with customers in collections. The bank currently uses both voice and WhatsApp channels to communicate with customers in distress. FICO optimization is used to segment customers by risk profile with greater granularity. This helps Absa to design differentiated treatment paths, from low-cost digital nudges to high-touch restructures.

Strong Results in Fraud Prevention and Collections

The bank's integrated approach has delivered measurable business and customer outcomes across both fraud prevention and collections strategies. Results include:

• Improved fraud containment rate: With the introduction of WhatsApp, Absa increased the containment rate (percentage of frauds that are successfully resolved at the initial point of contact) by 29% in card fraud and 33% in digital fraud.
• Faster customer service: CCS interactions are now independent of human assistance, which has improved efficiency and customer experience.
• More fraud stopped: Preventions value for digital and card fraud also increased significantly in 2025 compared to 2024.
• Rise in collections promise to pay: Absa more than doubled customer promises to pay since adding WhatsApp channel to its communications strategy.
• Rise in amounts collected: The amounts steadily increased from 2024 to 2025, with year-on-year growth more than doubling.

“Together, these initiatives powered by FICO have transformed how Absa engages with customers during moments of financial stress and fraud risk,” said Moremi Mabe, Head of Collections (Absa Home Loans). “Customers now experience timely, personalized, and empathetic communication.”

“Absa's fantastic results demonstrate the power of deploying intelligent omni-channel communications technology across the credit lifecycle,” said Nikhil Behl, president of software at FICO. “Their commitment to innovation and customer protection exemplifies the kind of forward-thinking leadership we celebrate with the FICO Decision Awards.”

“The judges were impressed by Absa’s strong results improving customer communications across the business,” said Lisa Morgan, technology journalist and contributor at InformationWeek, who was a FICO Decision Awards judge. “Absa has clearly improved customer trust using FICO’s technology.”

About the FICO® Decision Awards

The FICO Decision Awards recognize organizations that are achieving remarkable success using FICO solutions. A panel of independent judges with deep industry expertise evaluates nominations based upon measurable improvement in key metrics; demonstrated use of best practices; project scale, depth and breadth; and innovative uses of technology. The 2026 judges are:

• Sam Abadir, research director, risk & compliance, IDC Financial Insights
• Shrimanth Adla, senior director, credit risk strategy and analytics, Comcast
• Manoj Agrawal, group editor, Banking Frontiers
• Courtney Haan, strategic produce manager for fraud products, Velera (Previous Winner)
• Shelly Kramer, principal analyst at Kramer & Company and theCube Research
• Andy Lawrie, credit risk tech lead at Nationwide Building Society (Previous Winner)
• Lisa Morgan, technology journalist and contributor at InformationWeek
• Déborah Oliveira, founder and editor-in-chief at IT Forum

The winners of the FICO Decision Awards will be spotlighted at and win tickets to FICO® World 2026, May 19-22, 2026, at the Signia By Hilton hotel, Orlando, Florida.

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 80 countries do everything from protecting 4 billion payment cards from fraud, to improving financial inclusion, to increasing supply chain resiliency. The FICO® Score, used by 90% of top US lenders, is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the US and has been made available in over 40 other countries, improving risk management, credit access and transparency.

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Fonte: Business Wire