KeyCorp Signs Agreement With NICE Actimize to Enhance Proactive Consumer and Commercial Fraud Protection

CLEVELAND and NEW YORK, July 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) has signed an agreement with NICE Actimize, a NICE Systems (Nasdaq: NICE) company, to further strengthen its ability to proactively detect and mitigate consumer and commercial fraud. NICE Actimize is a leading provider of financial crime, risk and compliance solutions. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

With global fraud costs likely to total more than $300 billion annually, according to a 2009 research study by Gartner (i), proactive fraud risk management can offer a competitive advantage in today's financial services industry.

Enhancements to Key's existing fraud strategy will include using behavior-based analytics to more quickly identify acceptable transactions while helping to prevent unauthorized activities within KeyCorp's consumer, small business and commercial banking segments. The NICE Actimize technology applies unique algorithms and analytical models for each type of customer – consumer, small businesses and commercial – thus enhancing fraud prevention and an optimal user experience.

The agreement aligns with and supports Key's comprehensive fraud strategy, which includes enabling revenue growth, mitigating risk, and enhancing the client experience.

The relationship KeyCorp has formed with NICE Actimize is significant from a financial standpoint – representing a considerable investment – and also from a product standpoint, as it covers multiple channels and business lines. This cross-channel approach to fighting fraud is becoming increasingly more common as financial institutions move toward developing enterprise-wide fraud prevention strategies versus deploying siloed solutions.

"This exciting relationship with NICE Actimize is an investment in our clients and their financial safety and well-being," said Douglas Twining, director of fraud services for KeyCorp. "While Key's current anti-fraud measures are strong, Key is making a significant investment today so that we are prepared for the changing risks that the future will likely bring."

"We are happy to be working with Key to help them continue to proactively manage fraud threats," said Amir Orad, CEO of NICE Actimize. "Key is joining the NICE Actimize community of leading global firms who use our cross-channel financial crime prevention solutions to improve the customer experience by better managing transactional risks for both retail and commercial customers."

About NICE Actimize

NICE Actimize, a NICE Systems (NASDAQ:NICE) company, is the world's largest and broadest provider of a single financial crime, risk and compliance software platform for the financial services industry. NICE Actimize empowers its clients to prevent financial crime, mitigate risk, reduce operational costs, minimize losses and improve compliance. The company provides real-time and cross-channel fraud prevention, anti-money laundering, enterprise investigations, risk management and trading surveillance solutions built upon the Actimize Core Platform, which has been enhanced by the company's acquisitions of Syfact and Fortent (Searchspace) analytics and technology. With offices across North America, Europe, and Asia, NICE Actimize serves more than 200 clients globally including all of the world's 10 largest financial institutions. www.actimize.com

About NICE Systems

NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) is the leading provider of intent-based solutions and value-added services, powered by advanced analytics of unstructured multimedia content – from telephony, web, radio and video communications. NICE's solutions address the needs of the enterprise and security markets, enabling organizations to operate in an insightful and proactive manner, and take immediate action to improve business and operational performance and ensure safety and security. NICE has over 24,000 customers in more than 150 countries, including more than 80 of the Fortune 100 companies. More information is available at www.nice.com.

About KeyCorp

Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $95 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/.

i) Gartner, Inc. MarketScope for Enterprise Fraud Management, Avivah Litan, 3 September 2009

SOURCE KeyCorp