For financial businesses, managing risk and fraud detection is of utmost importance. Common types of fraud include credit card fraud, check fraud, and identity theft as well as many others. Fraud can cost businesses millions of dollars annually, which is why early detection using proper security software is key.

Financial businesses can benefit the most from technological software such as name matching, named entity recognition tools, and entity analytics. Entity analytics detects similar or related entities across collections of both new and old data. Through this process, entity analytics can link together people, transactions, things, and relationships. Name matching software works by linking together names that may point to the same person but differ because of misspellings, variations, and transliterations.

Without name matching software, a person with a given name may apply for an account with a bank despite having been banned from that bank for fraud in the past. James Marion Dallas Jones for instance may be on the Specially Designated Nationals List, but may apply to a bank under the name of James Dallas. The bank, without name matching software, could allow this man to make an account with them, therefore unknowingly violating the SDN List.

However, even if a financial business such as a bank did have name matching software, there is still a chance that those on the Specially Designated Nationals List could get past security software. This is because the security software must link entities beyond an individual’s given name and its variations.

In 2013, Wells Fargo allowed for the opening of two bank accounts for two individuals on the SDN List because its security software failed to take into account the birth dates of the two individuals. By using both entity extraction, a tool of entity analytics, as well as name matching software financial businesses such as Well Fargo can avoid situations of fraud risk in the future.

Security software such as entity analytics provides benefits for more than just financial businesses such as banks. American border security can also benefit from the use of security software such as text analytics and text mining software. Text analytics can help to gather information regarding a specific individual. With this information, border security can help to identify potential dangers that may require a follow-up on the individual, to identity current dangers, and to detect dangers that may be an issue in the future.

Using technological software for security purposes is not just important, but necessary to protect valuable assets in business and entire companies. Should a financial company such as a bank run the risk of operating without the use of name matching software or entity analytics, a potential criminal could slip through the cracks and cost them millions of dollars.