TransUnion Beefs up Its Identity Technology As Online Transactions Explode

As digital commerce continues to proliferate globally, the need for identity-resolution technology has grown exponentially. Credit-reporting giant TransUnion LLC on Monday strengthened its hand in that capability with the announcement it is acquiring Neustar Inc. for $3.1 billion. TransUnion will finance the deal with a combination of cash and debt. 

The deal, which is expected to close during the fourth quarter, will complement TransUnion’s non-credit products, which the company has been building out for several years through organic growth and acquisition. The deal also comes as transactions online and in other venues where user identity can be hard to establish are growing fast.

During a conference call to discuss the announcement, TransUnion president and chief executive Chris Cartwright told analysts that Neustar’s data and digital capabilities, combined with TransUnion’s digital-identity assets, will enable safer and more personalized online experiences for consumers and businesses.

“Neustar diversifies our portfolio, scales our position in marketing and fraud, and expands our opportunities in communications,” Cartwright said. “We see a very good fit with our highly evolved vertical-market strategy.”

As more merchants and marketers make the digital channel a primary point of interaction with consumers, knowing who they are dealing with on the other side of the screen has become imperative, Cartwright, says. One of Neustar’s strengths is its ability to link disparate data elements and attributes, such as device, location, and individual characteristics, to confirm a consumer’s identity.

“This acquisition strengthens the sophistication of our non-identity solutions,” Cartwright adds. “Neustar has powerful, unique identity assets that make trust between [users of TransUnion technology] and their customers possible.”

Another key feature of Neustar’s platform is that it enables customer identity in what executives on the call said is a post-cookie world. As concerns about consumer privacy have arisen over companies’ use of consumer data gathered from cookies, several Web browsers such as Apple Inc.’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox have discontinued the technology or plan to do so. In January 2020, Google announced it would phase out support for third-party cookies by the start of 2022. Cookie-based data is typically collected without consumers’ explicit consent. 

“Neustar’s marketing capabilities focus on identity resolution in the post-cookie world,” Cartwright said. “With Neustar, we will be able to help marketers identify attractive customer segments, run batch marketing lists of consumers pre-screened for specific offers, and help marketers be sure the customers they are engaging with are the right customers in a secure environment.”

Such capabilities will empower marketers to engage with consumers digitally while respecting consumers’ data privacy, Cartwright adds. 

On the fraud-detection and prevention side, Cartwright said the addition of Neustar will enhance TransUnion’s data-match rates with reduced latency. Improved data matching has become key in e-commerce as criminals have pounced on consumers’ pivot to digital channels for purchases and financial services.

“We can provide omnichannel fraud protection across Web site, the call center, and other channels,” Cartwright said.

TransUnion projects Neustar’s revenues will grow 8% in 2021 to $575 million and will achieve double-digit growth in 2023, especially in the marketing and fraud segments of its business.