Garanti has fought fraud for five years using FICO solutions that analyze card transactions, credit applications, merchant profiles and Internet banking transactions. Now Garanti is upgrading to the latest version of FICO™ Falcon® Fraud Manager in order to expand its use of FICO fraud technology across all transaction channels at the bank, including current / DDA accounts. Garanti will use FICO's fraud solutions to protect customers in Turkey, and plans to expand protection to customers in Romania.

"We've managed to reduce our fraud-related losses in recent years despite an increase in fraud attempts," said Beyhan Kolay, senior vice president, who leads Garanti Bank's Anti-Fraud Monitoring Department. "Looking ahead, we'll be expanding our use of FICO fraud management solutions, taking advantage of the new analytic capabilities in FICO Falcon Fraud Manager 6 to detect more fraud attempts while expanding protection to our customers' current accounts."

Garanti Bank is seen as a leader in combating fraud in Turkey, which sees a high rate of card fraud and other fraud types. According to Euromonitor, card fraud in Turkey reached 27.9 million Turkish lira (US$17.7 million) in 2010, a 20% rise since 2003. Garanti Bank formed the Anti-Fraud Monitoring Department in 2007, uniting teams focused on credit card, merchant, Internet and application fraud. Garanti adopted an enterprise fraud prevention approach to find more effective solutions and measures against fraudulent activities, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In its 2010 annual report, Garanti reported a year-on-year decrease in fraud losses, despite a rise in attempts.

"FICO is the leader in fraud management technology, and we partner with them across our business," said Hüsnü Erel, the chief information officer of Garanti Bank and chief executive officer of the Garanti Technology division. "Stopping criminals from robbing our customers, and thus our shareholders, remains a top priority for the bank."

"A bank's fraud protection is only as strong as its weakest link, which criminals are quick to find and exploit," said Mike Gordon, FICO vice president and managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "Garanti Bank is at the forefront of banks using a single platform to detect more fraud and protect all customer accounts."