Friends Life Develops Annuities Management Platform Based on FICO Decision Management Technology

LONDON, June 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- FICO (NYSE: FICO), the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology, today announced that the UK insurer Friends Life is using FICO^® Blaze Advisor^® business rules management platform to develop an annuities management system to help ensure customers receive the right annuity at retirement. Friends Life is using the FICO technology as a key part of its solution for tailoring annuities to its customers' individual needs and circumstances.

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The conversion of pensions to annuities is becoming an increasingly complex endeavor, involving both risk underwriting and assessment of a policyholder's retirement needs. To guide customers through the process, the Friends Life platform will adapt a set of questions tailored to each policyholder. FICO Blaze Advisor will make it easier for Friends Life to change both the underwriting process and the price of the annuity in order to offer the customer as competitive a solution as possible.

"The approach to retirement is a critical decision point for our customers as they determine how to convert their pension funds into annuities," said David Still, Managing Director of Retirement Income at Friends Life. "We want to make use of the most advanced tools possible to ensure our customers make informed decisions that optimize their annuity. We're confident that FICO Blaze Advisor provides us with market leading technology that will enable us to achieve this and grow our business successfully."

"Insurers are driven to provide world-class customer service as a way to improve customer loyalty and ultimately increase customer retention," said Hayley Kershaw, vice president and managing director for FICO in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "The result of this incredible focus on customer service is a recognition that smarter, configurable systems are needed that can comfortably co-exist with legacy platforms or, ideally, facilitate legacy modernization. Friends Life is creating a smarter platform for building its annuities business while adopting a business rules system that can serve multiple purposes."

FICO® Blaze Advisor® provides companies across industries with a scalable solution that delivers unprecedented speed and agility in the deployment and management of high-volume, automated decisions. FICO Blaze Advisor enables business users to easily design, deploy, execute and maintain business rules and policies as part of an automated business application.  The software is widely used in the insurance industry worldwide, in areas such as underwriting, fraud detection, policy renewals and asset management.

Friends Life provides pensions, investments and insurance for over five million customers.

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO), formerly known as Fair Isaac, is a leading analytics software company, helping businesses in 80+ countries make better decisions that drive higher levels of growth, profitability and customer satisfaction. The company's groundbreaking use of Big Data and mathematical algorithms to predict consumer behavior has transformed entire industries. FICO provides analytics software and tools used across multiple industries to manage risk, fight fraud, build more profitable customer relationships, optimize operations and meet strict government regulations. Many of our products reach industry-wide adoption — such as the FICO^® Score, the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the United States. FICO solutions leverage open-source standards and cloud computing to maximize flexibility, speed deployment and reduce costs. The company also helps millions of people manage their personal credit health. FICO: Make every decision count^™. Learn more at www.fico.com.

For FICO news and media resources, visit www.fico.com/news.

Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Information

Except for historical information contained herein, the statements contained in this news release that relate to FICO or its business are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the success of the Company's Decision Management strategy and reengineering plan, the maintenance of its existing relationships and ability to create new relationships with customers and key alliance partners, its ability to continue to develop new and enhanced products and services, its ability to recruit and retain key technical and managerial personnel, competition, regulatory changes applicable to the use of consumer credit and other data, the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisitions, continuing material adverse developments in global economic conditions, and other risks described from time to time in FICO's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2012 and its last quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2013. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes, FICO's results could differ materially from its expectations. FICO disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

FICO, Blaze Advisor and "Make every decision count" are trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation in the US and other countries.

SOURCE FICO