Absa Group, has significantly strengthened its fraud prevention capabilities and debt collection performance through a partnership with analytics software company FICO.
The bank deployed FICO’s Customer Communication Services (CCS) technology across both its fraud and collections operations, becoming the first of South Africa’s “big 5” banks — and the only pan-African bank — to use WhatsApp as a channel for fraud prevention and customer communication throughout the fraud case journey. The initiative has earned Absa a 2026 FICO® Decision Award, selected by an independent judging panel.
On the fraud side, Absa integrated FICO CCS with FICO® Falcon® Fraud Manager to enable real-time, two-way fraud verification. When the system detects suspicious activity, it triggers an interactive WhatsApp message to the customer within milliseconds — or a voice note or SMS for customers without smartphones. The customer can immediately confirm whether the transaction is genuine or fraudulent, and if fraudulent, a fraud representative is automatically brought into the conversation. The result was a 47% improvement in self-solve cases across digital and card fraud, a 29% uplift in card fraud containment rates, a 33% rise in digital fraud containment, and a 121% improvement in fraud investigation customer communication.
In collections, Absa used FICO CCS alongside voice and WhatsApp channels to segment customers by risk profile with greater precision. This enabled the bank to tailor its approach — ranging from low-cost digital prompts to more intensive restructuring — depending on the customer’s circumstances. Since introducing WhatsApp to its collections strategy, customer promises to pay have more than doubled, with the total amounts collected also more than doubling year-on-year between 2024 and 2025.
Absa Group is one of Africa’s largest diversified financial services groups, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. It offers a broad range of retail, business, corporate and investment banking services across the continent. The group has been navigating a challenging economic environment characterised by high inflation, rising interest rates and growing financial pressure on South African households, which has heightened both fraud risk and the need for effective collections strategies.
The CCS deployment allows customer interactions to take place independently of human agents, improving operational efficiency while enhancing the overall customer experience throughout what can be stressful financial moments.
Absa Fraud Solutions executive Ally Mafunzwaini said, “Absa serves 13 million customers across Africa, and therefore recognized the critical need for constant adaptation and innovation in fraud prevention strategies. Absa operates within a dynamic banking environment shaped by rising fraud risks, customer vulnerabilities, and mounting regulatory pressures. To protect our customers and support them when they need us most, we needed smarter, faster ways to communicate.”
Absa Home Loans head of collections Moremi Mabe said, “Together, these initiatives powered by FICO have transformed how Absa engages with customers during moments of financial stress and fraud risk. Customers now experience timely, personalized, and empathetic communication.”
FICO president of software Nikhil Behl said, “Absa’s fantastic results demonstrate the power of deploying intelligent omni-channel communications technology across the credit lifecycle. Their commitment to innovation and customer protection exemplifies the kind of forward-thinking leadership we celebrate with the FICO Decision Awards.”
FICO Decision Awards judge and InformationWeek technology journalist and contributor Lisa Morgan said, “The judges were impressed by Absa’s strong results improving customer communications across the business. Absa has clearly improved customer trust using FICO’s technology.”
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