PwC agrees anti-fraud alliance with tech provider Clearspeed

Technology provider Clearspeed has penned a partnership with professional services giant PwC. The association will see PwC deploy Clearspeed’s technology to help clients optimise risk assessment through voice analytics.

Fraud is estimated to cost the UK more than £200 billion each year; more than £157 billion of that hitting businesses, while a further £8 billion targeted individuals amid the cost of living crisis. This makes fraud – which now accounts for over 40% of all reported crimes in the UK – a major concern, not just for the economy, but wider society.

Amid this, the government is launching a renewed anti-fraud strategy. The change of policy places a renewed focus on tackling scams and bringing fraudsters to justice – including a commitment to investing in the launch of a National Fraud Squad. However, private sector entities are also being called on to help turn the tables on fraudsters.

Harry Holdstock, a partner with PwC, commented, “In this context, finding and deploying new methods and approaches to stopping fraud while continuing to meet the service expectations of customers is essential. I’m really excited we will be working with Clearspeed as we seek to help our clients enhance the experience of their customers and up the ante in the fight against fraud.”

Clearspeed is a provider of voice analytics technology for automated risk assessment at scale. By aligning with Clearspeed, PwC hopes to give its clients the opportunity to more efficiently and effectively manage fraud risk across their operations.

At the same time, PwC hopes to enhance the experience of clients’ customers, by speeding up their claim, application or process related to fraud. Based on innovative voice-based technology, after asking a set of simple questions, Clearspeed’s AI-enabled platform identifies vocal characteristics in the answers that are associated with risk on a real time basis.

The alliance is part of PwC’s ongoing commitment to make optimal use of innovative new technologies to tackle the most important business and societal challenges, fraud being a major one. By working with Clearspeed, PwC will help empower organisations dealing with high volumes of customer interactions where there may be fraud exposure – from banks to the public sector, or healthcare providers – to successfully process a significantly higher proportion of cases more quickly and without any further human intervention. 

Alex Martin, Clearspeed CEO, added, "We are really enthusiastic about our alliance with PwC and its potential to address issues of fraud across multiple industries – insurance, financial services, government, immigration, sports integrity. By leveraging advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and next-gen voice analytics, we will revolutionise risk assessment together, empowering businesses to stay ahead of emerging threats and safeguard their operations and their customers, building trust faster in an increasingly complex landscape."