Fiserv Launches Solution to Reduce ‘Improper’ Gov’t Payments (April 11, 2013)
Fiserv Inc. this week said it’s launching a new solution to help government agencies cut wasteful spending by improving payment accuracy. Fiserv’s new Payment Accuracy and Fraud Prevention Service, adapting the company’s private-sector fraud-mitigation tools for the public sector, is designed to help federal agencies identify incorrect, redundant and fraudulent payments across diverse channels, the company said. The U.S. Government already has had success at cracking down on such payments. Last year improper and fraudulent payments accounted for 4.35 percent of the federal budget, or $108 billion, down 107 basis points from 5.42 percent in 2009, according to the U.S. Government’s latest Payment Accuracy report.
Fiserv’s new fraud-detecting service for government agencies is based on a “consulting diagnostic that identifies the single points of failure with respect to fraud and payment inaccuracies [within federal payment and approval programs],” Ray Kalustyan, Fiserv senior vice president and managing director of government services, tells Paybefore. Using predictive analytics, Fiserv’s tools help identify payments sent to the wrong person, for the wrong amount or to citizens who are no longer eligible for benefits. Approximately one-third of such improper payments are due to fraud, Fiserv said, while the remainder is the result of errors or incorrect information. While Fiserv’s new tool initially targets federal government agencies, the company eventually plans to offer it to state governments, Kalustyan says.
