Company Description
Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) (NYSE: FICO) is a global analytics software company that focuses on using predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. According to the company, it powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper, with solutions used in more than 80 countries. FICO is historically known for the FICO® Score, a standard measure of consumer credit risk in the United States that is used by 90% of top U.S. lenders and has been made available in over 40 other countries to support risk management, credit access, and transparency.
Founded in 1956, FICO describes itself as a pioneer in applying predictive analytics and data science to real-world decision-making. Over decades of development, it has built a portfolio of technologies and software that organizations use to increase profitability, customer satisfaction, and growth. The company reports holding more than 200 U.S. and foreign patents covering technologies in areas such as fraud detection, decision optimization, and credit risk assessment.
Core business focus and solutions
FICO’s business centers on analytics software, decision management, and scoring solutions. Its offerings are used by businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail, and other industries. With these tools, organizations manage tasks that include protecting payment cards from fraud, improving financial inclusion, and increasing supply chain resiliency. FICO emphasizes that its solutions support decision workflows across the customer lifecycle, from onboarding and risk assessment to fraud monitoring and customer communication.
A key part of FICO’s business is its Scores segment. The company’s descriptions and financial disclosures identify business-to-business (B2B) scoring solutions and business-to-consumer (B2C) solutions as major revenue contributors. B2B offerings include scores used by lenders and other institutions, while B2C offerings include services such as myFICO.com and indirect channel partners that provide consumers with access to their FICO Scores. The FICO® Score is positioned by the company as the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the U.S. mortgage and consumer credit markets.
Software, optimization, and decisioning technology
Alongside scoring, FICO reports a significant software business that includes analytics and digital decisioning technology. This software is used to deploy advanced analytic models into end-user applications and to power decision workflows. FICO Xpress Optimization, for example, is described as a suite that enables businesses to solve linear, mixed-integer, and nonlinear optimization problems. The company states that FICO Xpress includes a broad set of optimization algorithms and technologies, and that users can run what-if analyses, compare strategies, and account for trade-offs in complex decision environments.
The latest release of FICO® Xpress Optimization (version 9.8, as referenced in company news) incorporates GPU-accelerated implementations of certain algorithms using NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries. FICO notes that this can provide substantial speedups for very large optimization problems, reflecting its focus on high-performance computing and large-scale analytics. The company also highlights continuous performance enhancements in its mixed-integer programming and global solver engines, underscoring ongoing investment in optimization technology.
Fraud management and customer communication
Fraud detection and prevention is another important area for FICO. The company points to FICO® Falcon® Fraud Manager as a payment fraud solution that protects more than 4 billion payment cards worldwide. Falcon Fraud Manager uses artificial intelligence and patented fraud detection methods to monitor transactions and identify suspicious activity. In practice, banks and payment providers use this technology to intervene quickly when fraud is suspected, often in combination with FICO® Customer Communication Services (CCS) to contact customers through their preferred channels.
FICO presents these fraud and communication capabilities as part of a broader approach to managing risk and customer interactions in real time. For example, in its collaboration with financial institutions such as PostFinance, FICO describes how Falcon Fraud Manager and CCS support instant communication with customers when potential fraud or scams are detected, helping institutions maintain high levels of fraud protection and customer trust.
Credit risk, mortgage, and cash-flow scoring
Credit scoring and risk assessment remain central to FICO’s identity. The FICO® Score is widely used by U.S. lenders to evaluate consumer credit risk and is also available in many other countries. FICO has extended its scoring capabilities into specialized areas, such as mortgage lending and cash-flow based scoring. The company’s FICO® Mortgage Direct License Program is designed to allow tri-merge resellers and verification providers to generate and deliver FICO Scores directly to lenders, with the goal of offering more transparent and efficient score delivery and flexible pricing models for the mortgage industry.
FICO has also developed the UltraFICO® Score, which incorporates cash flow data into credit scoring. In partnership with Plaid, FICO is working on a next-generation cash flow UltraFICO Score that combines FICO’s established scoring framework with real-time cash-flow data from Plaid’s open finance network. The company states that this enhanced score is intended to provide lenders with a more comprehensive view of consumer credit readiness, while remaining aligned with the traditional FICO Score scale to simplify adoption.
Industry coverage and use cases
FICO’s descriptions consistently emphasize that its technologies are used across multiple industries. In financial services, banks and lenders use FICO solutions for credit risk management, fraud detection, mortgage decisioning, and customer lifecycle management. In insurance, telecommunications, health care, and retail, organizations use FICO’s analytics and decisioning tools to classify, prioritize, and optimize projects, manage risk, and tailor customer interactions.
Examples cited by the company include protecting billions of payment cards from fraud, supporting digital onboarding and identity checks for banks, and enabling demand management and project prioritization for large insurers. FICO also publishes benchmark reports and market data, such as its UK Credit Card Market Reports, which analyze trends in spending, balances, missed payments, and other credit card performance indicators using data derived from FICO solutions.
Partnerships and ecosystem
FICO works with a range of partners to extend the reach of its technologies. Partnerships highlighted in company news include collaborations with GFT Technologies on smart finance and risk management, with Plaid on cash-flow based scoring, and with mortgage industry participants such as Xactus, Cotality, and Ascend Companies (Advantage Credit and Partners Credit & Verification Solutions) on the FICO Mortgage Direct License Program. These alliances combine FICO’s decisioning and scoring capabilities with partners’ expertise in areas like cloud, data integration, digital banking, and verification services.
Through such relationships, FICO positions its platform and solutions as components in broader ecosystems that address fraud detection, credit risk, compliance, and customer experience. The company also notes that partners may establish centers of excellence for FICO technologies, train specialized teams, and support standardized rollouts across banking, insurance, and other sectors.
Corporate structure, listings, and governance
Fair Isaac Corporation is incorporated in the United States and lists its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FICO, as indicated in its SEC filings. The company’s filings also show that it reports financial results in segments that include Scores and Software, reflecting the importance of both scoring and analytics software to its business model.
In an 8-K filing, FICO reported a leadership change in its Scores business, noting the planned retirement of its President, Scores, and indicating that the Chief Executive Officer would assume direct responsibility for the Scores business. This illustrates how the Scores segment is treated as a distinct and strategically important part of the organization.
Financial reporting and segments
FICO’s financial disclosures describe two primary operating segments: Scores and Software. Scores revenues include B2B scoring solutions and B2C solutions, while Software revenues include on-premises and SaaS software and related professional services. The company reports metrics such as Software Annual Recurring Revenue and Dollar-Based Net Retention Rates to describe the performance of its software business, distinguishing between platform and non-platform software.
In its reported results, FICO provides both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures, explaining adjustments related to items such as share-based compensation, restructuring charges, and amortization of intangible assets. The company also reports free cash flow as a non-GAAP measure, defined as net cash provided by operating activities minus capital expenditures. These disclosures are intended to give investors additional perspectives on profitability, cash generation, and recurring revenue characteristics.
Use of analytics and AI
Across its product lines, FICO emphasizes the use of predictive analytics, data science, and artificial intelligence. In fraud management, the company references more than 100 patents related to fraud detection and highlights the role of AI in monitoring transactions and identifying suspicious behavior. In optimization, FICO Xpress uses advanced algorithms, including hybrid gradient methods and mixed-integer programming, and increasingly leverages GPU acceleration to handle very large, dense problems.
FICO positions its decisioning platform as a way for organizations to orchestrate decisions across the customer lifecycle, combining data, models, business rules, and optimization. The company notes that users can formulate models in terms that reflect business trade-offs, run scenario analyses, and compare strategies, which supports data-driven decision making in complex environments.
Global reach and impact
According to FICO’s own descriptions, its solutions are used by businesses in more than 80 countries. The company cites examples such as protecting four billion payment cards from fraud, supporting financial inclusion through expanded credit access, and improving supply chain resiliency. In the UK, FICO’s Benchmark Reporting Service and TRIAD® Customer Manager solution are used by a substantial portion of card issuers to monitor and analyze credit card performance, demonstrating the company’s role in providing market-level insights as well as individual decision tools.
Through its combination of scoring, analytics software, optimization, fraud management, and decisioning technology, FICO presents itself as a specialist in turning data into decisions that affect lending, payments, risk management, and customer engagement across multiple industries and regions.