The Ashcroft Group LLC was a leading investor in InAuth and worked closely with the company’s leadership over the past five years. David Ayres served on InAuth’s Board of Directors until its acquisition by American Express.
December 6, 2016 8:06 AM
As an extension of the company’s multilayered strategy for fighting fraud, American Express (NYSE: AXP) announced it has acquired InAuth, Inc., a leading provider of mobile device authentication and intelligence solutions. InAuth’s technology is used by some of the largest financial institutions, banks, payment networks and merchants to reduce risk and help identify potential fraud utilizing its mobile-first device authentication capabilities.
The acquisition complements and enhances American Express’ comprehensive data analytics and fraud prevention capabilities, which have enabled the company to achieve the lowest fraud rates in the industry. The acquisition also positions the company to capture new opportunities as more consumer activity – from payments to account origination and servicing – moves to digital channels. As commerce has increasingly shifted to online and mobile channels, so too has the risk of fraud. Seventy percent of U.S. merchants have experienced an increase in sales through online and mobile channels over the previous year, according to the 2016 American Express Digital Payments Security Survey. 1 At the same time, 60% of merchants reported having experienced fraud from online and mobile sales.
“Security is part of our heritage, and helping our merchants and partners fight fraud is a top priority for American Express,” said Anré Williams, President, Global Merchant Services & Loyalty Group at American Express. “We’re acquiring the right company at the right time to evolve our leadership position in fraud management and security. This acquisition, along with Accertify and other significant investments we’ve made in data analytics and technology, will help us continue to offer security and protection to our merchants and partners as mobile and online spending drive commerce.”
Founded in 2011, InAuth helps clients identify risk, remove friction and reduce fraud in their digital channels. InAuth’s platform uses device authentication to enable clients to evaluate the potential risk of a digital transaction, whether it be a customer logging into their account on a mobile app or web browser, or making a purchase from a merchant’s website. American Express currently uses InAuth’s technology as part of its broader fraud management capabilities, and InAuth’s services are also sold by Accertify, a subsidiary of American Express that is a leading provider of ecommerce fraud-management and chargeback solutions to merchants.
Lisa Stanton, Chief Executive Officer of InAuth, will continue as President. She will report to Jaromir Divilek, Senior Vice President, Global Network Business, American Express.
“InAuth is thrilled about how this union will further enable us to deliver on our mission of helping the largest industry players around the globe, including banks, merchants and payment networks, make smarter risk decisions,” Stanton said. “As part of American Express, we will be able to build on the strong partnership we already have in place to gain scale, accelerate our expansion and, over time, work together to develop new capabilities that address the rapidly evolving world of digital commerce.”
Going forward, InAuth will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Express. The acquisition follows an investment in InAuth made earlier this year by American Express Ventures, the strategic investment arm of American Express.
InAuth’s technology will extend the innovative capabilities that American Express has developed in its technology platforms to support a new generation of digital products, and will complement the robust suite of tools that it already provides to help merchants fight fraud and help protect consumers. These tools include SafeKey, Enhanced Authorization and Accertify, which helps merchants detect and prevent online fraud across all payment card networks. American Express also offers a number of services and features to help Card Members monitor their account information and help prevent fraud at the point of sale, including one-click alerts to confirm charges via text, email and mobile app.
