Netherlands Forensic Institute selects SOFTPRO as a partner to advance Forensic Research about Signatures

[THE HAGUE / BOEBLINGEN] - 2009-07-15: Softpro, the world's leading vendor of systems for fraud prevention solutions, capture and verification of handwritten signatures, and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI, www.forensicinstitute.nl), a departmental agency of the Dutch Ministry of Justice announce to partner in the research and development of innovative tools focusing on the science of verifying signatures.

In the future the NFI might leverage Softpro's technology to aid forensic experts in detecting forgeries more quickly and efficiently. Vice versa the NFI will share its expertise with Softpro to be reflected in upcoming releases of Softpro's fraud prevention and signature verification suite SignPlus.

Advancing Signature Verification

The organizations plan to cooperate on research projects for the advancement of signature verification. Research topics will include enhanced methods and tools for aiding forensic experts, cleaning of signatures (filter image components which do not belong to signatures), signature complexity analysis and sophisticated detection of forgeries.

Elisa van den Heuvel, forensic scientist at the NFI: "We have screened several vendors for a potential partnership. We choose Softpro to collaborate with because Softpro has gained an outstanding expertise over the course of many real world applications concerning signature verification. We share the same goal: to achieve the most accurate, empirical and deterministic verification of handwritten signatures possible. We also honor the fact that Softpro is a company with a proven record of being dedicated to research and development, being a driver of innovation for many years."

Alain Sarraf, CTO of the Softpro Group adds: "Softpro is very proud to have the opportunity to work closely with the NFI as it is an institution that not only enjoys an excellent reputation, but that is also seen as forerunner in forensic science. Together we share core values such as achieving the highest level of trustworthiness in what we are doing, and finding innovative ways to improve the verification of signatures. We strive to supply our customers with a competitive edge and believe that teaming with the NFI will provide us with valuable insight into even the most complex verification scenarios."

The Netherlands Forensic Institute uses state-of-the-art technology and science to provide high-quality forensic services on behalf of its clients. The NFI provides objective forensic information and works on the basis of specific examination assignments submitted by its clients. The NFI is independent and does not adopt any positions with regard to guilt or innocence.

Challenge Check Fraud

Unfortunatly check fraud crime is easy to commit with little downside risk to the perpetrator: Enhanced financial products, services and customer access as well as enabling technologies such as scanners, all increase the avenues of opportunity for fraud. Softpro addresses these challenges with a holistic solution called SignPlus, now successfully in production at leading financial institutions around the globe, and securing millions of transactions every day.

About SOFTPRO

The SOFTPRO GmbH is a world leader in developing and marketing products and solutions for digital capture, management and verification of handwritten signatures.

The fastest growing line of business are solutions for E-Signing - in particular biometric signatures. SOFTPRO is offering E-Signing software - from the SDK (SignWare) via desktop clients (SignDoc) to a complete platform for Web-based signing (SignDoc Web). The products support a wide range of devices for signature capturing - from basic pen pads up to Tablet PCs. This can lower your costs, accelerate business processes, eliminate errors and protect documents against manipulation. E-Signing with SOFTPRO is environmentally friendly and thus supports Green IT initiatives and Corporate Social responsibility programs.

The second major division of SOFTPRO is the detection of fraud through automated comparison of signatures. This comparison is primarily used for checks. SOFTPRO’s Automatic Signature Verification is also used to secure the postal ballot (e.g. in the United States and the United Kingdom). Additional fraud analysis tools may be added to the verification process. The results of these complex tests are analyzed, weighted and presented as a holistic risk assessment.

SOFTPRO solutions are currently used in 31 countries on five continents. Ten of the world's 25 largest banks are SOFTPRO customers, as well as insurance, retail and telecommunications companies, public administration, the energy and the health sector.

The parent company of the SOFTPRO group is the SOFTPRO GmbH founded 1983 in Boeblingen near Stuttgart. Four subsidiaries are based in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in India and in Singapore. Additional representations operate in Brazil and Lebanon. The group currently employs around sixty people. SOFTPRO's software is developed "made in Germany".

Please contact us for additional information:

SOFTPRO GmbH

Wilhelmstrasse 34
71034 Boeblingen
Germany

Phone: +49 7031 6606 0
Fax: +49 7031 6606 66

Joerg-M. Lenz
Manager PR

e-Mail Joerg-M. Lenz