Visa Advanced Authorization (VAA)

Visa Advanced Authorization is the system of an antifraud which is based on artificial intelligence technology. Represents the complex risk management tool which in real time is tracing and estimating authorization of transactions at VisaNet to help issuers to reveal and react in the shortest possible time to suspicious transactions.

2019

AI helped to prevent fraudulent transactions for $25 billion

On July 2, 2019 the company Visa provided analysis results according to which the Visa Advanced Authorization (VAA) system working based on artificial intelligence (AI), in a year (12 months which ended on April 30, 2019) helped issuers to prevent fraudulent transactions for the total amount about $25 billion.

In 2018 Visa processed more than 127 billion transactions between trade and service companies and financial institutions in VisaNet network and applied AI to the analysis of all data on transactions, at the same time was spent for each transaction about one millisecond. Financial institutions could approve lawful transactions, quickly detecting and preventing fraudulent activity.

One of the most difficult tasks in the field of payments — to separate the legitimate transactions made by holders of cards from the unfair transactions initiated by swindlers at the same time without creating obstacles for payment process — Jack Forestell, the chief product officer of Visa said. — In 1993 Visa of the first began to apply in the payment network the AI technology based on neural network to the analysis of transaction risks in real time, and it without delay positively affected fight against fraud. Making use of considerable experience of our specialists in combination with use of the innovative technologies, we continue to develop our opportunities and we monitor emergence of new breaks in the field of AI.

As of July 2, 2019 the share of fraudulent transactions at the global level in the Visa system reached a historic low and makes less than 0.1%. Such result was achieved thanks to approach of Visa to business creation — to investments into human resources and such technologies as AI, to providing maps to holders and banks of powerful tools, resources and control facilities for risk management and also establishment of management processes which are intended to help the enterprises and regulators to save flexibility in decision making.

In general, according to Visa, the Visa Advanced Authorization system is used by more than 8000 issuers in 129 countries.

As AI at the heart of Visa Advanced Authorization works

According to information for June, 2019 the Visa Advanced Authorization system is capable to distinguish fraudulent transactions according to cards from atypical purchases thanks to artificial intelligence technology which investigates billions of transactions and analyzes consumer patterns.^[1]

According to Visa, the company of one of the first began to use the neural networks reproducing structure of a human brain as a basis of its AI platform for identification of possible fraudulent transactions. VAA carries out the fast analysis earlier not of the known parameters of risk. With its help trade and service companies and financial institutions have following features:

• Use models of machine learning for the analysis of all transactions and identification of signs of fraud in real time. For one millisecond actions, patterns of behavior and more than 500 parameters are analyzed.
• Estimate risks. Reports results of assessment of Visa to financial institution of the account holder which then makes the decision on approval or a deviation of transaction, or marks transactions on which explanations of the account holder are required.
• Define legitimate transactions even in case of their initiation by the new buyer or client who is seldom making purchases that reduces the probability of false deviations of payment.
• Carry out authorization in real time by means of the integrated global analytical system for identification and prevention of fraudulent transactions.

2011: VAA at the heart of the platform of payment processing VisaNet

In January, 2011 it became known that Visa passes to the platform of payment processing VisaNet in which the technology of protection Visa Advanced Authorization is applied.

Visa Advanced Authorization analyzes each transaction in a system on existence of potential risk. The introduced earlier updated operating system allows to collect more information for the analysis and also executes more transactions in millisecond. It gives to Visa company a comprehensive view of an international payment system, supplies it with information on the one who and as spends the money and also allows it to fight against fraud almost in real time.

The system of risk identification Visa Advanced Authorization is based on global studying of fraudulent and account transactions on all payment network Visa. As VisaNet processes more electronic payments, than all other systems, Visa has an opportunity to determine fraud by an individual account and the coordinate attacks of numerous accounts on all system. It allows to stop potentially crime at a check stage — still before it happens.^[2]

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