Fintech
Etraveli unveils Precision risk management tool as first foray into fintech
Flight platform Etravel Group is launching a fintech product to help fight online fraud.
Precision, as the technology is called, is the first “and very obvious to launch” of a series of fintech products that CEO Mathias Hedlund has said the company wants to launch.
Amedeo‘ payment activity Pay in advance is the first technology partner, which will offer Precision as part of the services provided to airlines and other travel service providers.
Hedlund described the solution as a risk management-as-a-service product and said Etraveli had been using similar technology internally for about 20 years. The technology is also used where Etraveli is the merchant of choice in some markets as part of its flight partnership with Booking.com.
“It’s a big part of why we’ve grown so well over the last 10 years, because we’ve invested a lot in holistic fraud management. If I look at different players in the market, they’re focused on an API. They don’t want fraud or they want to reduce the cost of fraud, but it’s a combination of getting as many transactions through as possible and pushing sales as much as possible, stopping as much fraud as possible and having the lowest possible fraud management costs. Those are the ones [key performance indicators] in every decision is weighed together.”
Hedlund added that he believes Etraveli is better than its competitors at managing fraud through its data and “internal orchestration and logic that can achieve the same or better results without blocking 5% of transactions.”
The move is part of Etraveli’s strategy to transform itself into a B2B company, with the company currently split evenly between consumer and B2B, according to Hedlund. Projecting five years ahead, he believes B2B will be closer to 80% of the business.
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Etraveli’s partnership with Booking.com is an important and growing part of its B2B business, but the recently announced expanded agreement with Amadeus will drive further growth, he said.
Booking.com has been using Etraveli’s flight content since late 2019 and announced it would acquire Etraveli Group for €1.6 billion in late 2021. The deal was vetoed by European regulators in September 2023, but Booking.com has said it will appeal the decisionThe online accommodation platform also said that The partnership lasts until the end of 2028.
This latest deal allows Amadeus to source and distribute content from the flight technology provider. It also allows the distribution company to offer virtual interlining content from Etraveli Group subsidiary Tripstack to travel sellers via the Amadeus travel platform. Owned by Amadeus Navitaire already has a partnership with Tripstack.
Hedlund described the deal as “huge, because it means we continue to build on our transformation into a B2B company. Booking.com, of course, was the first really big one we started working with, and now we’re doing similar things with another giant in the travel market.”