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Ethoca Accelerates Global Expansion of Card Issuer Network

Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Austin, TX; and London, UK - Ethoca, the industry standard for collaboration-based technology solutions that help card issuers and online merchants increase transaction acceptance and stop ecommerce fraud, today announced that it has added significant card issuer coverage to its global network. This includes more alerts from card issuers in new geographies, expanded debit and credit portfolios and new data sources, including disputes from customer service issues.

Ethoca is the industry’s most comprehensive source of cardholder-confirmed fraud and customer dispute data from a rapidly expanding global network of card issuing banks. As more card issuers join Ethoca’s global network, merchants around the world get more value from real-time alerts that provide a critical window of opportunity to stop fraud, avoid costly chargebacks, and resolve customer service and billing disputes that significantly damage the customer experience.

Ethoca’s network currently includes more than 20 card issuers globally, including seven of the top nine U.S. card issuers, seven UK issuers (including two of the top five), five Canadian issuers and, most recently, a top three card issuer in Australia. In addition, commercial relationships with major card brands significantly extend the global reach of Ethoca’s network. Over the last quarter alone, new card issuers and data sources – combined with hundreds of new merchants joining the network – have resulted in a 90% increase in the number of fraud and customer dispute alerts Ethoca is sending to merchant customers. This growth is driven by the Ethoca ‘Network Effect’: as more merchants and card issuers join the network, more value is created for all participants, in turn driving greater global participation and financial benefits.

The increasingly global footprint of Ethoca’s issuer network is pivotal as both domestic and cross-border ecommerce continue to accelerate. According to the Boston Consulting Group, cross-border ecommerce currently accounts for ten to 15 percent of total ecommerce volume, depending on the region. As a result, many ecommerce retailers are naturally seeing significant increases in cross-border fraud and disputes. Ethoca’s global expansion addresses this urgent need for cardholder confirmed fraud and dispute data by targeting regions responsible for generating the most volume. When issuers in those regions join the network, not only do that country’s domestic merchants benefit – all the merchants on Ethoca’s global network have an opportunity to stop more fraud and chargebacks. The lift to the entire network is immediate and material. Ethoca’s global issuer expansion will also deliver added benefits to ecommerce merchants in the U.S., where the coming implementation of EMV has led many experts to predict a significant increase in Card Not Present fraud.

“Merchants on Ethoca’s global network are all recognizing that the ecommerce landscape is global and borders are dissolving,” said Andre Edelbrock, Chief Executive Officer and Ethoca Co-Founder. “That presents an opportunity to reap the financial rewards, but it must be balanced against the cost of fraud loss and impact to customer experience. That’s where Ethoca’s ability to help merchants collaborate with card issuers eliminates the barriers that prevent growth and more acceptance. It’s about making global ecommerce simply about commerce – not about dealing with fraud, disputes and unhappy customers. To achieve that, all of our merchants are demanding more global coverage and faster data – we’re delivering it.”

“Beyond card issuers that have joined the network in the last quarter, Ethoca’s near-term pipeline includes card issuers throughout Western, Eastern and Northern Europe, South America, Mexico and, in the near future, China,” said Trevor Clarke, Executive Vice President, Issuer Relations and Ethoca Co-Founder. “All of these regions are expected to be part of the Ethoca Network in 2015, and some even sooner than that. We’re excited to be bringing these new global sources of confirmed fraud and dispute data to a growing merchant network that now seamlessly spans the world’s borders.”

About Ethoca – Ethoca is the leading, global provider of collaboration-based technology that enables card issuers, ecommerce merchants and online businesses to increase card acceptance, stop more fraud, recover lost revenue and eliminate chargebacks. Through the Ethoca Network – the first and only of its kind in the industry – we are closing the information gap between card issuers and merchants. This unique capability makes fraud intelligence and card acceptance insight available and actionable in real time. Our suite of services delivers significant revenue growth and cost saving opportunities to our card issuer and merchant customers around the world. Nine of the top ten ecommerce brands, seven of the top nine U.S. card issuers, two of the top five UK card issuers and more than 1,500 ecommerce businesses around the world rely on Ethoca solutions and the network that powers them. To find out more, please visit us online at www.ethoca.com.

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