Minneapolis-based Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) recently announced last Thursday that its online fraud alert forum will host the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) confidential discussions on bank robbery investigations.

The partnership is part of the FBI's recently launched Bandit Shield Initiative under which it teams with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies as well as participating financial institutions to crack down on bank robberies.

Through its fraud alert forum, FICO currently hosts online discussions for financial professionals, law enforcement agents, and technology experts. Topics range from new criminal schemes to successful technology implementations. The forum is managed by FICO's bank fraud experts; access to the forum requires security clearance from them.

“In order for Bandit Shield to succeed, the FBI needs access to the kind of engaged community FICO has created, where individuals are addressing real-life fraud scenarios as they happen,” FBI Agent Dennis May said in a statement.

The FBI launched the Bandit Shield initiative in San Antonio in January and is planning a national rollout soon. Financial institutions participating in Bandit Shield have agreed to implement a variety of best practices and other security measures to help deter robberies.

FICO said it has a long history of working closely with law enforcement agencies to resolve financial crimes, including credit card fraud, ATM skimming, and other threats to bank security. It offers a variety of services to deter such fraud, including a credit or debit card alert service that analyzes daily transactions across a network of 11,000 financial institutions to identify and report counterfeit cards. FICO claims that the service protects more than 60 percent of U.S. debit cards.

FICO is among Minnesota's 40-largest public companies based on revenue for the fiscal year that ended in September 2010, which totaled $605.6 million. The company reported revenue of $619.7 million for the fiscal year that ended last September.