Visa to buy AI-powered fraud intelligence company BioCatch in $2.4 billion deal

Visa announced on Monday that it intends to buy fraud intelligence provider BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash. 

The investment firm Permira and other investors are putting up the cash for the acquisition, which is part of the credit giant's effort to increase its cybersecurity offerings, Reuters reported. 

The deal would help Visa, the world's largest payment processor, to enable its clients to better protect themselves in an increasingly complex threat environment, Visa said. 

"Account takeovers and scams ​cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually and AI is ​enabling these attacks at unprecedented scale. BioCatch will help our clients stop fraud before it reaches the point of payment," said Andrew Torre, president ​of value-added services at Visa, said in a statement. 

BioCatch uses artificial intelligence to analyze data points, including keystroke and mouse activity, touch screen behavior, AI agent usage and jailbroken devices, to prevent fraud and financial crimes.