Fair Isaac FICO recently announced that it will host the 6th FICO Forum Africa on Nov 17, 2022, in Johannesburg. The forum will explore how African financial institutions can use technology and advanced analytical programs to increase top-line growth amidst the cost-of-living crisis after the effects of the pandemic and the increase in financial scams.In the forum, FICO will portray how it has created a new approach to managing customers at a time when digitization is impacting every aspect of businesses. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, customer care is handled entirely through digital channels. To address this rising trend, FICO will address how its new solutions will help financial institutions provide more personalized customer care.FICO will also address how financial scams have increased with the rise of digitization, especially in the name of credit card loans and bank deposits. FICO will extensively cover the issue of securely operating businesses in its upcoming forum.In July, FICO expanded its partnership with Network International to bring fraud protection and credit management solutions to lenders across the Middle East and Africa (MEA).Network International is a group of companies that provide digital commerce across the MEA region. The group collaborated with FICO in 2017 to offer its customers FICO Falcon Fraud Manager, which serves more than 2.6 billion payment cards worldwide.FICO’s arrangement of the forum in Africa portrays the company’s interest to further penetrate the country’s market even more extensively to create more customers and generate more top-line growth.FICO Expands Operations Internationally to Drive Top LineFICO’s top line is experiencing a negative impact due to interest rate hikes by the U.S Federal Reserve and globally, which is affecting its mortgage origination business operations.In the second quarter of 2022, FICO’s mortgage origination revenues slumped 23% year over year, and the trend is expected to persist in the coming quarter.Also, FICO is experiencing increasing competition from the likes of Experian EXPGY, TransUnion TRU and Equifax EFX in the credit scoring business.Experian, TransUnion and Equifax have formed an alliance that has developed a credit scoring product to compete with FICO’s products.The integration between the three companies may help them to sell similar products to customers at lower prices, which might impact FICO’s business negatively as there is a risk of losing market share.To address this issue, FICO has been focusing on diversifying its product portfolio, specifically in the software business segment and expanding its operations internationally to cater to a wider customer base.FICO recently helped the largest Latin American bank Itaú Unibanco avoid losses of more than $20 million a month with its cloud-based fraudulent solutions.Itaú has been benefiting from the implementation of FICO Falcon fraud manager systems on-premise, which helps it defend customers’ capital and reduce fraud losses.With the company expanding its operations in international markets like Brazil and Canada, FICO’s software segment revenues are up 7% year over year in the second quarter as it is addressing the rising requirement for fraud protection services.FICO has also penetrated the African market with its partnership with Network International, which will help the company address a large customer segment in the MEA region, extending from retail bankers to their customers. In the upcoming forum, FICO will be looking to further penetrate the market with its latest customer relations software launches and attract new customers. Just Released: Free Report Reveals Little-Known Strategies to Help Profit from the $30 Trillion Metaverse Boom It's undeniable. The metaverse is gaining steam every day. Just follow the money. Google. Microsoft. Adobe. Nike. Facebook even rebranded itself as Meta because Mark Zuckerberg believes the metaverse is the next iteration of the internet. The inevitable result? Many investors will get rich as the metaverse evolves. What do they know that you don't? They’re aware of the companies best poised to grow as the metaverse does. And in a new FREE report, Zacks is revealing those stocks to you. This week, you can download, The Metaverse - What is it? And How to Profit with These 5 Pioneering Stocks. It reveals specific stocks set to skyrocket as this emerging technology develops and expands. Don't miss your chance to access it for free with no obligation.>>Show me how I could profit from the metaverse!Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Equifax, Inc. (EFX): Free Stock Analysis Report Experian PLC (EXPGY): Free Stock Analysis Report Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO): Free Stock Analysis Report TransUnion (TRU): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research