The combined entities will aim to provide customers with a comprehensive perspective on fraud detection, based on data from both ClearCommerce’s FraudDetect database and eFunds’ DebitBureau database.
eFunds hopes the transaction will strengthen its point of sale and online transaction processing capabilities and add a ‘card-not-present’ fraud prevention solution, including online and mail order/telephone order sales, to its retail and financial service offerings.
ClearCommerce is also expected to expand eFunds’ position in the retail sector with more than 140 new customers in seven countries, inlcuding HSBC and Barclays Bank.
The move comes after a 2004 Federal Trade Commission report claimed that identity theft and fraud accounted for more than $50 billion in retail losses in 2003. As electronic commerce continues to grow, businesses selling online are increasingly realizing that their main priority is to protect customers’ critical payment information, as well as their own revenue and profits, from increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes.
This acquisition is another step in the execution of our long-term strategic plan, said Paul Walsh, chairman and CEO of eFunds. Our combined solutions will help customers take an integrated, enterprise-wide view of their transaction processing and fraud management systems that will help control costs, increase transaction revenue, and strengthen customer loyalty. Customers can now come to one trusted provider for a full suite of fraud prevention and payment processing solutions to take advantage of the growing trend towards electronic payments.
The initial purchase price of approximately $19.4m will be paid in cash at closing, which is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2005.
