Alliance Also Serves Financial Institutions Account Opening Procedures and Patriot Act Compliance

BOCA RATON, FLA., January 24, 2005 – LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. and Verid announced today a strategic alliance to authenticate identity in phone and internet transactions to help protect merchants and consumers from identity fraud. The alliance also helps financial institutions with account opening procedures and with Section 326 PATRIOT Act compliance efforts.

With 30-years of data expertise, LexisNexis® is a leader in information management and technology solutions. Verid is a leading provider of knowledge-based identity verification services, offering a highly customizable solution for remote transactions where individuals are not present, such as Internet and telephone-based transactions.

Verid’s identity authentication technology will be incorporated into the LexisNexis® RiskWise® product suite, which helps customers authenticate identity, assess risk and detect fraud. Using Verid technology, RiskWise will screen individuals with a series of personal questions derived from diverse data sources to authenticate identity within seconds.

“Verid’s solution is a natural extension of our RiskWise product line,” said Tom Brown, Vice President of Credit Solutions, LexisNexis. “By partnering with Verid, we combine the power of LexisNexis’ high-quality data and technology platform, with Verid’s leading identity authentication applications. Together, we are building the industry’s best-of-breed identity authentication solution,” said Brown.

The RiskWise product portfolio will work with businesses that accept payments via credit or debit cards, checks, and other electronic payment methods. The RiskWise product suite can be utilized through a direct XML integration into an ecommerce web site or call center application, as well as being used via the Internet.

“Fraud is a multi-billion dollar business and we are excited to work with LexisNexis to create a more powerful identity authentication solution to protect both merchants and consumers,” said Chris Riskborn, Chief Operating Officer of Verid.

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