FICO cuts workforce by 15% as part of AI-driven restructuring

Oct 6 — Credit-scoring giant Fair Isaac, known as FICO, said on Tuesday it would ​trim about 15% of its workforce as part of a broader restructuring and AI integration, becoming the latest US company to ‌cut jobs as businesses automate tasks and redirect spending toward the technology.

"This simplified structure will ⁠allow us to operate and ​bring innovations to market faster ⁠and create more value for our customers," FICO told Reuters in ‌a statement. It did ‌not specify the number of employees laid off.

Fair Isaac had ⁠3,811 employees at the end of ⁠September 2025, meaning the cuts could affect about 570 workers. It began notifying employees this week.

It said it expects about $27 million in pre-tax charges in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, primarily related to severance. The plan is largely expected to be completed by ‌the third quarter of fiscal 2027.

REGULATORY PUSH ​WEIGHS ON SHARES

Shares of the company — known for its FICO score, a measure of consumer credit risk widely used by banks, credit card issuers, mortgage lenders and auto loan providers — have plunged about 58% this year as US regulators seek to loosen its longstanding hold on mortgage credit scoring.

Last month, the US Federal Housing Finance ​Agency (FHFA) directed mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow ‌all lenders to ‌use VantageScore, ⁠a rival developed by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, for credit scoring.

FHFA director Bill Pulte also said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would adopt a single pricing grid for both VantageScore and FICO scores, effectively putting ‌the rivals on equal footing ​and threatening FICO's dominance as the ‌standard measure of consumer ⁠credit risk ​in mortgage lending.

(Reporting by Pragyan Kalita in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and ​Diti Pujara)

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