Banco Inter, Brazil’s first all-digital bank, was recently named Latin America’s best digital bank by Euromoney. They’ve teamed up with IBM, which was recently ranked the market share leader in artificial intelligence (AI), for the fifth consecutive year by analyst firm IDC. The recently announced strategic partnership will integrate AI-enabled IBM Safer Payments into Banco Inter’s digital platform to offer predictive models and real-time threat response recommendations. The partnership will support Banco Inter’s aim to provide its customers the ability to make payments securely while delivering a positive customer experience.

“Our strategic partnership with IBM demonstrates our deep commitment to using technology to drive innovation and support our customers’ needs” said Thiago Garrides Cabral Lima, Chief Risk Officer at Banco Inter. “With the help of the IBM Safer Payments solution, which can be deployed on any public cloud environment, including our preferred cloud vendor, Amazon Web Services (AWS), we can scale rapidly in an effort to deliver value to our clients, allowing them to make payments securely, efficiently and without friction, across the globe.”

IBM Safer Payments uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze fraudulent behavior patterns, build and adapt predictive models of emerging fraud threats and recommend defensive actions across all payment channels.

“The strategic project with IBM is in line with our purpose of seeking innovative and high-tech solutions, to ensure the safety and convenience of our customers,” says Ray Chalub, Banco Inter COO. “The fact that the IBM solution is in the cloud also converges with the current global expansion strategy of our business.”

Marcela Vairo, director of Data, Automation and AI Apps at IBM Brazil, puts the partnership in a broader perspective. “Inter understands the importance of providing solutions that meet the expectations of its customers in terms of convenience and, at the same time, guarantee fidelity and security in all phases of the payment life cycle. The IBM solution is prepared to support the bank in resisting cyberattacks and fraud attempts that are constantly evolving.” She concludes, “this project intends to support Inter so that the institution continues to revolutionize its sector, protecting its customers’ payments and maintaining their trust.”

Many conveniences that customers enjoy with today’s modern payment services carry an increased risk of fraud. Legacy payment fraud detection systems were designed to see and stop easily recognizable fraud patterns, but today’s anytime, anywhere online and mobile payment practices have made fraud detection much more challenging.  Payment service providers’ time to respond is also shrinking as real-time payments mean there are just milliseconds to detect and prevent theft before it’s too late.

Financial institutions, like Banco Inter, understand the importance of providing solutions that meet their customers’ expectations for convenience while also ensuring fidelity and security at all stages of the payment lifecycle. These solutions must also be capable of withstanding increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and large-scale fraud breaches. With the implementation of IBM Safer Payments, Inter’s 10.2 million customers will enjoy heightened security.

Learn more about IBM Safer Payments