Misys, a global application software and services company, has announced the launch of Misys GeoGuard, a location based aggregation service.

The new service makes use of location-based social media applications to allow customers to confirm their location to authorise bank transactions, simplify access to their money and reduce fraud, the company said in a statement.

The process of confirming a customer’s location abroad, and any reimbursement of fraudulent withdrawals from an account, is a significant cost for banks and customers.

The Misys GeoGuard collates geographic information and enables customers to allow their banks to request their most recent location information, regardless of the services they use.

Marc DeCastro, research director, IDC Financial Insights said: “We believe that location-based services should be a key mobile strategy for financial services. Consumers may engage on social networks more often with financial firms for the promise of increased security over marketing, something consumers are very concerned with.” 

Tim Tyler, solution manager, Misys said: “The launch of Misys GeoGuard is an exciting opportunity for consumers and can help reduce the cost of fraud to banks. By mashing up banking and location-based services, customers will be able to improve control of their funds automatically with a little help from their existing location-based social networks’ interactions.”

“Misys GeoGuard allows the bank to benefit from these social networks in a highly secure way that gives the customer total control and confidence”, he added.

Built and delivered on force.com, salesforce.com’s social enterprise platform for custom app development, Misys GeoGuard can be easily and rapidly implemented on a bank’s existing infrastructure, as there is no on-premise software or hardware to install. Security, scalability and availability are all handled by the force.com platform.

Misys GeoGuard does not provide banks with customer tracking information; it lets customers choose their preferred method and frequency for confirming their location to their banks. Misys acts as a third party - never allowing the bank to be in possession of the customer location.

By leveraging existing social network services that incorporate location information, such as facebook places, foursquare, Gowalla and TripIt, customers do not have to access a specific bank service in order to update their bank, it said.

The service can also be offered to a bank’s customers who prefer not to use social networks by allowing integration directly with a bank’s existing channels, such as e-banking and mobile banking.

This allows banks to offer their customers the ability to “check-in” directly with the bank, and not share their location information elsewhere. – TradeArabia News Service