The Creditinfo Chronicle

Higher NPLs experienced by financial institutions not using credit reports

West Africa Monetary Union Credit Bureau – Creditinfo West Africa

The single credit bureau (Creditinfo West Africa (Creditinfo)) that spans the single monetary union regulated by La Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (BCEAO) has released evidence that the credit decisions of lenders is changing to be take into consideration the previous lending history of borrowers.

Creditinfo has been running the credit bureau for nearly ten years, initially much focus was to gather the correct information from Banks and Microfinance (MFI) lenders across the 8 countries of the union.  Then followed the educational process of explaining how to understand and interpret the information so enabling improved risk decisions for granting credit.

The reporting is now showing real benefits; NPL (non-performing loan) rates where the credit bureau was not interrogated and no credit report was taken are seen as as much as four times higher than where a credit report was taken as part of the credit assessment.

This huge difference can be attributed to the fact that when lenders take a credit report from Creditinfo they adjust their decision when they see the information in the report.  If a request for a loan comes from a customer who has poor payment performance with another lender, or they have a low credit score then that request for a loan may be declined, or at least the loan amount the institution is willing to lend will be reduced considerably.  This information can only be known by the lenders that take a credit report as part of eth decision process.

More and more lenders across the region are systematically taking credit reports for all credit decisions, Creditinfo has seen the number of credit reports increasingly aligned to the number of credit decisions.  However, there are still some lenders that have not systematically built in the automated process of system to system credit report requests, so even if it is the policy of the lender to always take a credit report they are dependent on individual underwriters to implement the policy.  In this case the lender risks higher losses than their competitors.  Automation and digitalisation also brings with it the opportunity to better use credit scoring and decision engines to drive further efficiencies and improve the customer experience.

Creditinfo West Africa is experiencing an increase in financial institutions going through a digital transformation in loan granting, linking to the credit bureau via an API, and then making the assessment with a decision engine, such as the hosted solution provided by Creditinfo.

There is also related benefits to this improvement in NPLs when credit reports are taken.  With greater control of losses lenders will increase the number of loans granted, reduce the need for guarantors or collateral and broaden the access to credit.  Furthermore, the lower risk environment will attract new lenders, or lenders to increase they range of credit products which increases competition.

Authors,

Paul Randall & Margarita Faizutdinova

Visit www.creditinfo.com for more information

Overview: Creditinfo Estonia’s Payment Default Registry in 2023

Creditinfo Estonia’s Payment Default Register was established in 2001 by Estonian banks, being the largest and oldest register in Estonia that gathers consistent and high-quality debt information. The register of payment defaults helps Estonian entrepreneurs make the right credit decisions and enables the application of the principle of responsible lending.

The largest contributors of payment defaults continue to be from the financial sector

In 2023, a total of over 700 companies entered payment defaults in the register. The TOP entrants by activity were:

  • Credit institutions
  • Financial service providers
  •  Collection service providers
  • Telecom companies

During the entire year, more than 100,000 new payment defaults were added to the register by companies, of which 91% were private payment defaults. Payment defaults of legal entities were published in a total of nearly 9,200 cases. 

There are tens of thousands of people with payment defaults in Estonia

As of the end of 2023, there were nearly 57,000 individuals with active payment defaults.

During the liquidation of the debt, the current default is marked as closed – in 2023, there were 111,000 private individuals with a closed payment default. A closed payment default indicates that the debt has been paid, but at the same time it warns the creditor that the person has had problems paying bills in the past and this allows for a more accurate assessment of his creditworthiness. NB! In the case of private individuals, closed payment defaults are published for up to 5 years after the payment default has ended.

As of the end of 2023, there were almost 20,000 legal entities or companies-institutions with active payment defaults.

There were nearly 33,000 legal entities with closed payment defaults. NB! In the case of companies, the information provided will be published for another 7 years after the end of the default.

 There are more than 150 thousand active payment defaults in the register

By the end of 2023, there were nearly 130,000 active payment defaults in the Payment Default Register by individuals with payment defaults. The average payment default amount, or debt, of a private person is €2,514. There were almost 363,000 private individuals with payment defaults that were closed.

At the end of 2023, there were approximately 40,000 active defaults of legal entities. There were almost 65,000 closed defaults of legal entities. 

The number of valid payment defaults has increased

In total, there were nearly 171,000 active payment defaults published in the Payment Default Register. If we add to this the information on payment defaults in the closed and disputed status, the total number of payment defaults in the Payment Default Register is 600,697, which has increased by approx. 9% compared to 2022.

At the same time, the effectiveness of the Payment Failure Register is maintained. Of all payment defaults that have reached publication, one in four, or 26%, is paid immediately within the first month, and half (47%) within the first three months after publication.

The disclosure has the greatest impact on the debts of the financial sector – 36% of all defaults disclosed by banks and leasing companies are paid already within the first month and almost 63% within the first three months.

Visit www.creditinfo.ee for more information.

ICRA and Creditinfo Tanzania launch first credit rating agency for Tanzania institutions

Dar Es Salaam, 24th January 2024 – Creditinfo Tanzania, provider of credit information and risk management solutions, and ICRA (International Credit Rating Agency) have partnered to launch the ICRA Rating Agency, the first credit rating agency locally based in Tanzania.

The joint venture will provide credit rating and evaluation services to Tanzanian financial institutions, creating for the financial industry. Combined, ICRA and Creditinfo’s Tanzania team bring decades of experience and practical knowledge in credit risk management and analysis to support and improve credit assessment in Tanzania.

Adv Hassan Mansur, Local Director of ICRA Rating Agency Limited said: “We are delighted to launch Tanzania’s first credit rating agency that is fully geared towards strengthening the economy through providing credit rating services that are tailored to the African market. Our partnership with Creditinfo will provide ample opportunities and offer a competitive edge for various institutions, most especially the Tanzanian institutions in the International Market.”

Edwin Urasa, CEO of CreditInfo Tanzania said: “At Creditinfo, we are committed to sustainably growing our business and identifying ideal opportunities to build strong and profitable credit rating agencies, while helping more local citizens and businesses access finance. Our partnership with ICRA marks an important milestone for us and gives us the opportunity to improve the standards of credit assessment. Tanzania is an optimal market for us to introduce this service because of its tremendous promise for inclusive financial services. This venture will set a new standard in credit rating and promote financial health and empowerment across Tanzania.”

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About Creditinfo  

Established in 1997 and headquartered in London, UK, Creditinfo is a provider of credit information and risk management solutions worldwide. As one of the fastest-growing companies in its field, Creditinfo facilitates access to finance, through intelligent information, software and decision analytics solutions.

With more than 30 credit bureaus running today, Creditinfo has the most considerable global presence in this field of credit risk management, with a significantly greater footprint than competitors. For decades it has provided business information, risk management and credit bureau solutions to some of the largest lenders, governments and central banks globally to increase financial inclusion and generate economic growth by allowing credit access for SMEs and individuals.

For more information, please visit tz.creditinfo.com

www.creditinfo.com

 

About ICRA Rating Agency

ICRA Rating Agency Limited has been accredited for being the First Ever Credit Rating Agency approved by Bank of Tanzania (Central Bank of Tanzania) to which we are the only regional central bank approved credit rating agency offering credit rating services. Our organisation also gets the special status of ecai (external credit assessment institution).

ICRA has an expert team with a combined experience of more than 25 years in Audit, Inspection, Financial Analysis, Credit Research, Banking, Compliance, AML and Certification. Our ratings significantly influence corporate and financial institutions to achieve better market standing. ICRA ratings aim to help various corporations and institutions demonstrate their financial capability.

For more information, please visit www.icrallc.com

Creditinfo Estonia’s sanctions’ monitoring solution for small businesses

With the ongoing aggression initiated by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the need to implement international sanctions has to be embedded in the daily business activities of our companies.
We know that companies – operating in the fields of activity subject to such a special obligation – must do more due diligence to mitigate the risks associated with implementing sanctions, but the processes should be somewhat similar to all of the companies operating in Estonia.

Such companies, whose daily economic activities do not deal with continuous customer background research or transaction monitoring, can sometimes be in a difficult situation where they do not have enough know-how or manpower resources to assess the risk of whether one of their customers or partners falls under the established restrictions or not.

Finding such a necessary workforce is always possible, but as you know, making such a fixed cost can sometimes be impossible according to the company’s business model. In this case, one of the options is to delegate the control of said risks outside the company or to use convenient and straightforward, but at the same time reliable services to help with this task, which are available on the market.

For these cases, Creditinfo is offering small businesses the opportunity to mitigate their risks in two ways – by delegating the checking of compliance with sanction lists for their customers and partners entirely to us or by using a straightforward and convenient solution on our e-Krediidiinfo portal – WebScreening.

The web-based service WebScreening allows you to request the entry of a person of interest to you through a convenient and comprehensive user interface, both on international sanctions (European Union and the United Nations) and watch lists (so-called local sanctions and “black lists” of various countries, in some instances, for example, wanted persons) as well as persons with a national background ( PEP) from the lists.

With additional functions, it is possible to perform user management in the portal (if the company has more than one user) or view the archive of requests made. At this point, it is good to note that the archive of performed requests is convenient to use, for example, to check the performance of the employee’s duties and prove the requests made to the supervisory authority, if necessary.

Check out the service: www.creditinfo.ee/kyc

www.creditinfo.com

Nova Credit and Creditinfo Bridge Cross-Border Credit Access for Ukrainians

NEW YORK – January 17, 2024 – Nova Credit, the leading cross-border and alternative credit analytics company, has announced a strategic collaboration with Creditinfo, a global service provider for credit information and risk management solutions, to help Ukrainians gain access to the necessary financial services needed to effectively rebuild their lives abroad. The partnership is powered by Nova Credit’s Credit Passport®, the only cross-border credit solution enabling newcomers to access their foreign credit history when applying for financial products in their new home country.

Bridging this critical data gap, Nova Credit and Creditinfo are providing Ukrainian expats and refugees with the tools they need to get started on the right financial footing upon arrival.Since March 2022, the U.S., U.K., and Canada – Nova Credit’s largest partner markets – have seen a combined 840,000 Ukrainians move*, and that number is expected to grow as the Russia-Ukraine War continues. As many will seek permanent residency in these new countries, a lack of credit history will introduce an obstacle to accessing financial services as, historically, new-to-country individuals have had no way to carry over their credit history and financial identity. This presents a challenge for both new arrivals who are looking to re-establish their lives, in addition to lenders who lack the credit data needed to provide their financial services and products to this newcomer population.

With this partnership, credit data from International Bureau of Credit Histories (IBCH) Ukraine (a Creditinfo credit bureau) – one of the three main credit bureaus in Ukraine – can be instantly translated into a local-equivalent credit report and score so that lenders who use the Credit Passport® solution can assess the credit risk of new-to-country Ukrainian applicants. Nova Credit’s partners using the Credit Passport® today include American Express, HSBC, Scotiabank, and Verizon.

“Of the many credit-excluded migrant populations around the world, few are in more dire need of support than the Ukrainian people,” said Misha Esipov, co-founder and CEO of Nova Credit. “Credit access isn’t just a piece of the puzzle; it’s a lifeline for the countless Ukrainians uprooted by the chaos of war. We set out to build this partnership with Creditinfo and IBCH Ukraine from the onset of the war, and our teams have worked hard to enable this integration. Together, we’re using data to bridge a world where everyone, regardless of where they come from, has a fair shot at building a brighter future.”

“We are delighted to partner with Nova Credit to help Ukrainians arriving in the U.S. gain access to financial services and credit checks as they look to settle and rebuild their lives,” said Satrajit Saha, Global CEO of Creditinfo Group. “Among the many challenges facing Ukrainians, is finding ways to access finance. Having a positive credit history is vital to doing many things in the U.S. such as renting a property and securing a job. This is why the information we can provide through our partnership with Nova Credit is so important – it offers the data financial institutions, employers and landlords need to provide basic services to Ukrainians wanting to rebuild their lives.”

The Credit Passport® Ukraine data integration is available for deployment into any credit risk or underwriting process across the U.S., U.K., Canada, U.A.E, and Singapore. To learn more about how to get started with Credit Passport®, visit: www.novacredit.com/business/credit-passport

*Source: 380,000 into the U.S. according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 250,000 into the U.K. according to UNHCR, and 210,000 into Canada under the CUAET program.

Ends.

ABOUT CREDITINFO

Established in 1997 and headquartered in London, UK, Creditinfo is a provider of credit information and risk management solutions worldwide. As one of the fastest-growing companies in its field, Creditinfo facilitates access to finance, through intelligent information, software and decision analytics solutions.

With more than 30 credit bureaus running today, Creditinfo has the most considerable global presence in this field of credit risk management, with a significantly greater footprint than competitors. For decades it has provided business information, risk management and credit bureau solutions to some of the largest lenders, governments and central banks globally to increase financial inclusion and generate economic growth by allowing credit access for SMEs and individuals.

For more information, please visit www.creditinfo.com

ABOUT NOVA CREDIT

Nova Credit is a credit infrastructure and analytics company that enables businesses to grow responsibly by harnessing consumer credit data. The company leverages its unique set of data sources, bank-grade infrastructure and compliance framework, and proprietary credit expertise to help lenders fill the gaps that exist in traditional credit analytics. Nova Credit serves as the bridge between data and credit excellence, providing a comprehensive suite of solutions designed to give lenders across various industries – including finance, fintech, property management, telecom, and automotive – a competitive edge in the open finance era. Its cross-border credit product, Credit Passport®, cash flow underwriting product, Cash Atlas®, and income verification product, Verification of Income, are used by leading organizations like American Express, Verizon, HSBC, SoFi, Scotiabank, and Yardi. Nova Credit is backed by investors including Canapi Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst, and Index Ventures as well as executives from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Citi. Learn more at https://www.novacredit.com or reach out to connect@novacredit.com.

An excellent Account Information Service is based on the accuracy of the categorization of transactions

In 2021, Creditinfo Estonia received permission from the Financial Supervision Authority to start offering account information services in Estonia, which later expanded to the markets of Latvia and Lithuania. Today, we have been offering the account information service on the market for almost two years. The account information service is based on the PSD2 directive. We have access to the transaction data of customers of banks and financial institutions using a secure data transmission channel and customer consent.

Account information categorization is the first and most trivial account data processing that creates customer value. In addition to the primary value, categorization is also an input for all subsequent, significantly more value-creating services (for example, debt risk assessment). Without categorization, each time finding, analyzing and displaying value from account information becomes too resource-intensive, so the end user would have to wait a relatively long time to get a result from their data.

Unfortunately, categorization is worthless if the accuracy and quality of the categories are low. Of course, every transaction on a bank account is not an input for assessing a person’s credit risk. When determining credit risk, it is critically important that the accuracy of the categorization of transactions required for analysis is as high as possible. This is to prevent credit losses for companies and overdue debts for private individuals, directly affecting both interest groups’ reputations.

The main input from categorization is related to income

 

The primary input from the account information for credit risk assessment is salary/income and the volume of financial obligations (loans, installment payments, leases, etc.) per month. In addition, various red and green indicators affect a person’s credit risk. For example, casino visits and bailiff payments can be classified under red and insurance charges under green.
To ensure the accuracy of the categorization, Creditinfo has given the first priority to categorizing transactions important for credit risk assessment across the Baltics. However, today, we can state that the overall accuracy of categorizing the account information service offered by Creditinfo across the Baltics exceeds 90%.
 
A more accurate percentage value can only be estimated by looking at the categorization of a specific bank account since the accuracy of the categorization is directly related to the transactions that the bank account reflects.
 
Accurate categorization of account information is also essential for ensuring know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) rules for all companies to which KYC and AML rules apply to a greater or lesser extent. For example, too much cash mobility in an account can mean potential money laundering. There is not, and should not be, a definite rule as to what amount constitutes money laundering in the case of a large amount of cash in the account. Many companies operate in a sector where a lot of cash moves. However, this does not make these entrepreneurs suspects of money laundering. If the cash movement is justified, then the doubt is also grounded.
 
In summary, it can be said that the bank statement is a valuable new data collection that helps to assess a person’s credit risk better. The basis for a more accurate evaluation is categorizing bank account transactions of excellent quality. At the same time, it must be remembered that achieving 100% categorization accuracy is impossible. Service providers are constantly changing; people go on trips, new companies are born, older companies disappear, purchases are made in various domestic and foreign online stores, etc. These are all reasons why there are always companies whose payment transaction categories cannot be specified as soon as possible.

Visit creditinfo.ee/en for more information.

Ivo Vallau

Open Banking Product Manager, Ceditinfo Estonia.

Access to customer bank transaction data provides a basis for more intelligent business decisions

In 2021, Creditinfo Estonia received permission from the Financial Supervision Authority to start offering account information services in Estonia, which later expanded to the markets of Latvia and Lithuania. Today, they have been offering the account information service on the market for almost two years. The PSD2 directive regulates the account information service, that grants account information service provider (Creditinfo) access to the transaction data of end-customers of banks and financial institutions, using a secure data transmission channel and customer consent.

Intelligent business decisions can only be made when decision-makers have enough information when making the decision. Decisions made without comprehensive information may remain superficial or rely too much on intuition. A joint decision becomes smart by including relevant, up-to-date, appropriate and verified data for decision-making, analyzing it and drawing conclusions from it.

Companies that want to be competitive in the market and, at the same time, grow faster than the market must act consciously and operatively to take advantage of the exponentially increasing amount of data and to navigate the diverse data landscape. The word “action” means the application of well-thought-out multiple technologies, the careful selection of primary data and adaptation to large, innovative data sets that provide the company with necessary data inquiries and detail-specific analyses. The actions mentioned in the previous sentence are based on the data value chain – a framework for managing data from collection to decision-making.

Access to bank transaction data gives the financial sector and several other sectors an unlimited opportunity to use innovative data sets to improve their business processes. Data (including account data) collection, analysis, targeted use and data-driven decision-making directly relate to Creditinfo’s core business. Creditinfo has invested a lot of time and knowledge to ensure and support its customers in successfully using the account information data. Remember that the customer does not have to invest resources in implementing the necessary specific technologies and data analysis in addition to their core business to filter and acquire value from bank transaction data.

Creditinfo adds value to account data with information from other sources

Bank transaction data helps to make more intelligent and more informed decisions regarding the products, services and conditions offered to the end customer. Figuratively speaking, credit bureau data enlighten one corner of the room of a person’s financial behavior, and the information obtained from account transactions enlightens the other corner of the room of a person’s financial behaviour.

Account information, besides evaluating financial behavior, provides information about a person’s daily habits, experiences, preferences, hobbies and much more.

In summary, access to the data of the end customer’s bank transactions provides a foundation for making business decisions based on an even more extensive and significantly more diverse data set, in other words, making decisions even smarter. As a universal, comprehensive solution provider throughout the Baltics, Creditinfo is the only partner for its customers with access to credit bureau data, global KYC data, and bank account data.

Visit creditinfo.ee/en for more information.

Ivo Vallau

Open Banking Product Manager, Ceditinfo Estonia.

Creditinfo appoints Satrajit Saha as new Global CEO

Former CEO of TransUnion Europe – Satrajit Saha – brings his expertise to Creditinfo, planning to drive growth across its credit bureaus globally.

London – 29th November 2023: Creditinfo, a global service provider for credit information and risk management solutions, has today announced the appointment of Satrajit Saha as its Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO). With over 20 years of experience in banking and credit bureau, Satrajit will drive the growth of Creditinfo and the maturity of its credit bureaus globally. He joins the company from TransUnion Europe, where he held the position of CEO for the last five years.

In his role, Satrajit will lead Creditinfo in advancing its strategic initiatives, with a particular focus on promoting financial inclusion worldwide. Drawing on his rich background in the credit information industry, spread across Asia, Africa, and Europe, he will lead the next phase of Creditinfo’s growth on a global level as it strives to become a truly global bureau and the leader for facilitating access to finance in both developed and emerging markets.

As an experienced strategic leader, Satrajit has an impressive reputation in the financial services space. At TransUnion Europe, he led the board of all TransUnion’s European owned entities. Before joining TransUnion Europe, he was Chief Business Officer at TransUnion India, where he was responsible for crafting and executing TransUnion’s CIBIL’s market strategy. He was also Cards Head, Africa Region, at Barclays Bank.

Satrajit Saha, newly appointed Global CEO at Creditinfo said: “I am honored to take on the role of Global CEO at Creditinfo, a company that is at the forefront of promoting financial inclusion. Together with the talented team at Creditinfo, we will continue to leverage innovative data sets and solutions to bridge information gaps and create opportunities to facilitate access to finance for individuals and businesses globally.”

Monty Ismail, Director at Levine Leichtman Capital Partners and Creditinfo Group Board member said: “We are delighted to welcome Satrajit “Satty” Saha as our new Global Chief Executive Officer. He is an accomplished executive with successful leadership experience relevant to our business, including his time as CEO of TransUnion UK. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for Creditinfo, and we are excited to see Satty, with extensive knowledge of our key markets, take over as CEO. We are looking forward to working with Satty in continuing to expand our global footprint and unlock access to finance for millions of consumers and businesses worldwide. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Paul Randall for his important contribution as CEO. He has been key to our success, and we are all grateful for his leadership and dedication.”

He will begin his new role as Creditinfo CEO on 1st January 2024 and will report directly to the Creditinfo Group Board.

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About Creditinfo

Established in 1997 and headquartered in London, UK, Creditinfo is a provider of credit information and risk management solutions worldwide. As one of the fastest-growing companies in its field, Creditinfo facilitates access to finance, through intelligent information, software and decision analytics solutions.

With more than 30 credit bureaus running today, Creditinfo has the most considerable global presence in this field of credit risk management, with a significantly greater footprint than competitors. For decades it has provided business information, risk management and credit bureau solutions to some of the largest, lenders, governments and central banks globally to increase financial inclusion and generate economic growth by allowing credit access for SMEs and individuals.

For more information, please visit www.creditinfo.com

A Master’s Thesis that highlighted the importance of timely submission of the Annual Report

In May 2023, Creditinfo Eesti announced a prize fund to recognize students who have addressed research questions in the fields of money laundering and sanctions in their research. In cooperation with the COBALT law firm and the representatives of the State Money Laundering Bureau, the evaluation committee chose Victoria Helenurme, a master’s student from the University of Tartu, as the winner for her master’s thesis on the topic “Prediction of deletion from the business register due to non-submission of the annual financial report using the example of Estonian companies”.

Victoria Helenurm is from Tallinn and graduated cum laude from the University of Tartu, majoring in Marketing & Financial Management. Today, she works as a financial controller in a company offering energy-saving indoor climate and renewable energy solutions and sees her future in business.

We had an interview with her on the journey of her thesis topic:

 The topic of your thesis was “Prediction of deletion from the business register due to non-submission of the annual financial report using the example of Estonian companies” – how did you arrive at this topic?

At the beginning of the summer of 2022, discussions began with people who eventually became my thesis supervisors. My main desire was to write a paper on a current topic in society. This year, the Estonian state penalties for not submitting the annual report became harsher, and in cooperation with my supervisors, we saw that there is a public interest in this area of research and also sufficient data for research.

 Why was this topic worth researching?

 If, as a person, we take a loan, for example, we are understanding the obligations that come with taking a loan. For me, founding a company or being on its board is a somewhat similar responsibility – as a manager, we have assumed the responsibility, among other things, to report on the progress of our company’s business to the public.

Unfortunately, while we are mostly exemplary in servicing loans, tens of thousands of Estonian companies fail to submit their annual reports on time.

 I cannot say whether this difference is due to, among other things, the fact that the penalties for not submitting the annual report have been relatively lenient. But it is certainly worthwhile for us to become more aware that such behavior is problematic.

After all the state of our countries businesses is based largely according to the data of the Business Register. If we have thousands of active companies that do not fulfill their reporting obligations, the financial forecasts, risk analyses, business decisions, etc. of the state, lenders and other parties will suffer in its quality.

The submission deadline (6 months after the end of the financial year) is a very lenient deadline. The business landscape is more and more unpredictable, so the knowledge of the previous year’s business results that arrives half a year later is already outdated. As is typical of our e-government, we would expect that at least certain types of companies could be assigned a much earlier submission obligation to help update our economic data.

 What facts became clearer as part of the research?

In my research, I tried to find an answer to the question of whether the deregistration of a company can be predicted purely by looking at how the company’s management has cared about the obligation to submit an annual report in its previous business life.

The Estonian financial world is very much a believer in financial ratios when assessing the business health of a company. I tried to see if it is possible to convincingly assess the business risk of deleting the company by completely setting aside the financial statement.

The studied dataset also proved this – a significantly more accurate forecasting method than financial ratios (prediction accuracy approx. 63%) was the observation of the past behavior of board members (prediction accuracy almost 82%). It can be said that if there is a member of the board of the company who has either delayed or failed to submit the financial year report in previous companies, it is a very clear business risk, which indicates the risk of deletion of the company in question.

 How could this research topic be continued?

Although I myself rather do not plan to continue my studies in a doctoral program, I definitely see possibilities for expanding this research topic. The obtained research results could certainly be compared with our neighboring countries – to assess whether in Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, etc. there are similar relationships between corporate delisting and board members’ past due diligence.

Another immediate opportunity for investigation is provided by the amendments to the law that entered into force this year, which toughened the penalties for failure to submit an annual report, among other things. Repeating this research in 5+ years would give an idea of whether business behavior has improved in terms of reporting obligations.

We were very pleased with Victoria’s research, as her research clearly connected with the general theme of our competition – the data of the Business Register and national registers in general are the main factors when applying the KYC principle. Financial data from the company that is not submitted on time or is completely missing, is a clear danger signal when investigating the background of your business partner.

When it comes to risk management – both when creating a customer relationship and during the existence of a customer relationship, up-to-date data from the business register is very necessary. Does the company actually operate; whether the data there (especially the field of activity and financial data) are correct (especially when it comes to the application of enhanced due diligence measures). The given data helps to understand the customer’s activity profile.

If the client does not submit annual reports, it is clear that it may be a riskier client, and this should be taken into account when establishing or monitoring a business relationship in order to mitigate the risk.

Urmas Pai –  KYC&Fraud Global Product Manager, Head of the evaluation committee

Creditinfo Estonia

www.creditinfo.ee

Creditinfo’s Account Information Service Product

In the spring of 2021, the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority authorized Creditinfo Estonia to offer Account Information Service in the Estonian market. In the autumn of 2021, the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority also granted the authorization to provide Account Information Service to the Latvian and Lithuanian markets. This act added to our product portfolio a new, exciting product that benefits our customers in the short and long run. As of today, we have had the Account Information Service in our cross-Baltic product portfolio for two years.

About the Account Information Service

The opportunity to provide Account Information Service emerged when the European Union (EU) Parliament and the EU Council adopted a new directive regulating payment services in the EU internal market on November 25, 2015 (PSD2), which emphasized the expansion of open banking in Europe.

Open Banking refers to provide third-party financial service providers open access to transactional data of bank and financial institution customers, using secure data transmission channels and customer consent.

The Account Information Service is a part of the Open Banking initiative, defined as an online service where the service user (customer) is identified and authenticated via strong identification and authentification means. The service itself means transmitting customer’s bank account data through a secure channel to third party from whom the customer wishes to apply a credit product.

How does Creditinfo provide the Account Information Service?

Using Creditinfo Estonia’s solution, both individuals, which is regulated by the aforementioned payment service directive, and companies can transmit their account information to third parties.

Beside financial sector the possibilities of the Account Information Service can be successfully used in application processes in various sectors. Previously mentioned customer consent is obviously obligatory.

Different sectors that can benefit from account information:

  • Public sector companies that provide subsidies to individuals and businesses, where the information in the account details creates significant value when determining subsidies;
  • Insurance sector companies, which can use behavioral information from the bank account for determining insurance premiums or simplifying the insurance incident evidence burden;
  • Other sectors where value from account information help to create better personalized offers for their products and services.

The strength of our Account Information Service is categorization.

The greatest value of the Account Information Service provided by Creditinfo Estonia comes from categorizing account transactions, which our clients (data recipients) can conveniently use in their business decisions.

Categorization is a solution that can and should be continuously improved over time. Precise and detailed categorization is a top priority for Creditinfo Estonia’s Account Information Service.

The data from the Account Information Service serves also as an input for our Account Information Service Report. The report helps to make more informed business decisions both internally and towards our client’s customers. The report highlights all the key ratios, indicators, “green and red flags” and much more that can be extracted from account information.

The report is designed in a way that can be customized to meet the client’s needs, which make it a tool for everyday business decisions.

More information about the service: https://creditinfo.ee/en/avoid-debts/psd2/

How are sanctions created? Overview on the example of the European Union 

On the surface of recent developments in Estonia, there is again reason to talk about sanctions. Namely, law enforcement bodies have recently carried out procedural actions regarding the economic activities of at least one company, suspecting a violation of international sanctions. This shows that without knowing exactly what is allowed and what is not – as well as without knowing the background and connections of one’s business partners when carrying out one’s business activities – there is still a risk of violating established sanction regimes, and as a result one has to deal with supervisory or law enforcement authorities.

Even if it turns out later in the proceedings that you have behaved correctly, it is in no way reasonable to attract such negative media coverage; as well as experiencing the stress and resource consumption inevitably associated with such procedures. Therefore, it is always wise to prevent problems and look for solutions to mitigate such risks as early as possible, which AS Creditinfo Eesti can always help you with.

However, how are restrictive measures established, who is responsible for the fact that the EU can put someone on its lists at all, and is it inevitable to be on the sanctions lists or is it possible to get out of there somehow? Let’s take a closer look at this process here.

Initiation of sanctions in the European Union

The European Union is an association of independent countries operating on the basis of its founding treaty(s). One of the important principles is that the European Union has a common foreign and security policy, one of the important parts of which is, among other things, the imposition of sanctions in situations where it is desired :

  • protect EU values, fundamental interests and security
  • keep the peace
  • consolidate and support democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the principles of international law
  • prevent conflicts and strengthen international security

We have already covered the nature of sanctions and their relevance in relation to the situation in Ukraine in more detail on the Creditinfo channels beforehand, so we would currently only look at the process of how the idea of ​​sanctioning at the EU level results in a mandatory legal act for all persons operating on the territory of the Community.

The creation of legislation necessary for the implementation of sanctions can be viewed at the EU level in three different aspects :

  • Legislation to take over UN sanctions is being created
  • Legislation is being created to implement UN sanctions in an expanded form
  • Legislation to establish autonomous EU sanctions regimes.

The European Foreign Service (institutionally part of the European Union Commission) is responsible for the implementation of EU sanctions policy , whose responsibility is to prepare drafts for establishing or changing sanctions regimes.

Of course, this is done in close cooperation with the member states, for example it is very important to get input regarding the identifying data of sanctioned persons, which information is often available to national specialists, and including it in the legislation establishing the sanction (or its annex) will help to significantly reduce the number of false positive responses arising from the implementation of the legislation in the future.

Since all member states must give their consent to the imposed sanctions, the draft sanctions move to the institution with the member states’ representation, i.e. the Council of the EU. The next instance is therefore the corresponding working group of the Council of the European Union (RELEX) , where the specialists of the member states cooperate to reach an agreement on the text of the legislation.

If agreement is not reached, the agreement will continue in the working group formed by the permanent representatives of the member states at the EU (COREPER) , from there the draft will go to the General Assembly of the Council of the EU (forum of heads of government), where it will be adopted and the text of the legislation will be agreed upon. For mandatory compliance, the legislation will be in the EU gazette after its publication.

Ending sanctions 

Existing EU autonomous sanctions legislation is reviewed regularly, but no less often than once every 12 months.

Since the EU follows the principles of the rule of law (Rule of Law), it is of course also possible for persons under sanctions to get rid of the status of a sanctioned person through legal processes.

There are two main options for this – to publish a motivated statement of wish to this effect directly to the Council of the EU, which will then process the corresponding application and make a decision regarding whether to leave the sanctions list or to remove it from it, or another, more widely used option, to turn to the General Court of the European Union ( General Court of the European Union).

For example, at this point it is perhaps even appropriate to bring up the most talked about decision of recent times about the victory achieved by Violetta Prigozhin, the mother of the late Yevgeni Prigozhin, regarding her delisting .

AS Creditinfo Eesti has continued to take on the concern of providing the necessary support to market participants in the implementation of international sanctions, and we are ready to help with various issues, both with advice and force. We believe that in this way, in cooperation with our customers, we can best contribute to the achievement of the common foreign and security policy goals of the EU.

Visit: creditinfo.ee

One in five construction companies on the brink of bankruptcy in Lithuania

As shown in a recent analysis of the construction sector conducted by Creditinfo Lietuva, almost a fifth (18%) of construction companies1 are currently on the brink of bankruptcy, while almost a third (31%) are at risk of defaulting on their payments. According to publicly available data2, construction companies, as a whole, exhibit shorter operating histories and offer lower wages compared to other sectors. Financial experts are therefore advising caution when engaging with construction firms.

There are currently 19,167 construction companies in Lithuania, employing almost 108,000 people. The numbers of construction companies and their employees have shown consistent growth since 2020. In 2020, there were 16,144 construction companies with an employee count of nearly 102,000. By 2021, the numbers had risen to 17,171 companies and over 102,000 employees, and at the beginning of 2022, the sector boasted 18,512 companies, employing in excess of 106,000 people.

The average age of a construction company CEO is  about 46 years, with a striking 87.5% of these leaders being male. Compared to other sectors, construction companies have a comparatively shorter average lifespan in the market, standing at 10 years, in contrast to the national average of over 13 years.

Despite witnessing among the fastest growth in the current year, salaries for construction workers still lag behind the Lithuanian average. According to data from Sodra, construction worker wages surged by 22% year-on-year in the second quarter, reaching EUR 1,300 before tax (EUR 880 net), while the average earnings of full-time workers across Lithuania rose by 12.3% year-on-year, amounting to EUR 1,980 before tax.

The risk of bankruptcy among construction companies is twice as high as the national average

Currently, 18% of construction firms fall into the high and highest bankruptcy risk categories, compared to 20% at the beginning of this year and 19% at the beginning of 2022. The high and highest risk classes of late payment now account for 31% of construction companies, up from 37% at the beginning of 2023 and 34% at the beginning of last year.

For all companies in Lithuania, excluding the construction sector, 9% of all companies in the country were in the high and highest bankruptcy risk classes at the beginning of 2023, compared to 12% at the beginning of 2022. At the beginning of this year, 17% of all Lithuanian companies belonged to the high and highest risk classes of late payment, with 21% at the beginning of 2022.

“Although the construction sector has experienced a period of growth in recent years, it is particularly sensitive to borrowing conditions, fluctuations in demand and geopolitical changes. During the pandemic, builders experienced a boom in demand – with many people deciding to improve their homes – low energy prices and relatively cheap borrowing. Subsequently, the construction sector encountered a number of challenges stemming from disrupted supply chains and the need to withdraw from cooperation with sanctioned countries,” explains Ekaterina Rojaka, Head of Business Strategy and Development at Creditinfo Lithuania. “In recent months, with the European Central Bank raising its base interest rates, borrowing has become a more costly affair, reducing people’s ability to borrow, and homes built with credit have been slower to sell.”

This year, bankruptcy proceedings were initiated for 136 construction companies

Since 2007, a total of 44,256 construction companies have been declared bankrupt in Lithuania. The highest number of bankruptcies occurred in 2009 (445), 2016 (351) and 2017 (367). Only in 2007 was the number of bankruptcies below 100, with a total of 67. In Lithuania, 163 construction companies faced insolvency in 2020, 131 in 2021 and 237 in 2022. In the first 8 months of this year alone, 136 construction companies in Lithuania have declared bankruptcy.

As of the beginning of September this year, there were 11,512 construction company debts on record, collectively burdened with nearly EUR 90 million in debts, with 962 new debts registered in the first 8 months of the year, according to the credit bureau systems. The average size of a single debt is EUR 7,800.

“When entering into contracts with construction companies, it is advisable to pay more attention to their risk assessment and to clearly negotiate payment terms,” Rojaka commented.

According to data provided to the Centre of Registers, the top 10 construction companies with the highest revenues last year are: YIT Lietuva (EUR 140.6 million), AB Kauno Tiltai (EUR 134.4 million), Conres LT (EUR 100.1 million), Autokausta (EUR 83.2 million), Tetas (EUR 79 million), Staticus (EUR 75.9 million), Merko Statyba (EUR 70.4 million), Žilinskis ir Co (EUR 68.7 million) and INGUS (EUR 63.9 million).

Almost one-fifth (19%) of companies in this sector have not yet submitted their financial statements for 2022.

According to Rojaka, state orders and building modernisation programmes will support the construction sector’s activity in the near future, as demand for real estate slows down. However, falling demand has only a limited impact on the final prices of construction services, as cheaper building materials do not compensate for the sector’s rapidly rising wages, which account for more than a quarter of total construction costs. As a result, construction continues to become more expensive, with a 3.7% year-on-year increase in construction costs in July, with the fastest increase in building repair costs, which rose by 9.2%.

More information:
Jekaterina Rojaka, Head of Business Strategy and Development at Creditinfo Lithuania (jekaterina.rojaka@creditinfo.com)

Or visit: lt.creditinfo.com/en

Notes:

1 In this report, construction companies are defined as companies that have publicly declared to the State Data Agency (SDA) the activity codes of Section F (41-43) of NACE2 as the company’s main activity.

2 The data in this press release is based on information publicly provided by the State Enterprise Centre of Registers, SODRA, the State Data Agency (VDA), and other sources.

Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference 2023

Creditinfo Group participated in this year’s XVIII Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference which took place in Edinburgh on 30th August – 1st September 2023. This year’s conference focused on current industry issues and the latest credit risk analytics research findings.

Dmitry Borodin, Head of Decision Analytics Creditinfo Group, and Guilhem Poucin, Senior Risk Analyst Creditinfo Group, presented on “A Winding Road to Credit – Access to Finance for Underbanked Populations”. During their session, they demonstrated how their research examined the issue of access to finance for underbanked populations and identified actionable high impact score-driven solutions:

1️) Using Creditinfo’s global credit bureau footprint, they have explored financial inclusion of the identified populations across various territories, identifying common challenges.

2️) They then introduced a framework to address the most common challenges that limit access to credit for underbanked populations. The framework is to a large extent driven by careful utilization of alternative predictive characteristics such as payment histories on mobile or small loans, telecom and utility data, data on associated parties, and self-reported information. Furthermore, they advocated for the application of thoughtful and unbiased model development methodologies ultimately helping to enhance financial inclusion and expand access to finance for underbanked populations.

Johann Haraldsson, Data Scientist, Creditinfo Group, together with Gunnar Gunnarsson – Executive Director and Analytics and Consultant – Creditinfo Group, presented on “Chunking – A Practical Approach to Manage Consent-based Data Sources in Credit Scoring”. In this session, they presented “chunking” – a methodology used for training a credit score which is designed to handle the fact that different data sources apply to different people at different times. This applies especially to data sources where individuals must opt-in and can opt-out whenever they want. This is to ensure to simplicity, fairness and consistency through time is maintained, while losing as little statistical power as possible.

Kjartan Palsson, Data Scientist, Creditinfo Group, spoke on “Networks- A Practical Graph-Based Approach to Corporate Default Modelling”. During his session, he focused on the network of company connections, specifically how information can be incorporated from neighboring companies to enhance the company credit score. He highlighted on the following:

1) How companies can be connected through various channels, such as ownership structures, common senior staff roles or supply chain relationships. He presented a practical approach to categorizing these channels into “edge strength”, where high strength indicates that defaults are likely to spread to neighboring companies.

2) Ways to use this information to create features which are highly predictive of defaults, particularly for newly founded companies with limited financial data.

 

Visit www.creditinfo.com for more information.

Creditinfo: “The BIC reform will make it possible to take a big step towards financial inclusion.”

Reform of BICs, impact of inflation on solvency, feedback from the Checkinfo service – an overview with Sidimohamed Abouchikhi, Regional Director for Francophone Africa of Creditinfo Group, and Director of the Board of Directors of Checkinfo.

Finance News Hebdo: In this inflationary context, what assessment do you make of individuals’ and businesses’ insolvency risks?

Sidimohamed Abouchikhi: Inflation first impacted the distribution of loans after the successive increases in the critical rate (+150 bps), partially passed on to the interest rates applied by credit institutions (+53 bps). If we compare the first six months of the year 2023, we see a virtual stagnation in requests for the granting of credit, whereas usually, we have an increase between 5 and 8% (minimum), or even more than the part of individuals. For businesses, the decline in demand is mitigated when government support programs are included. To come back to your question, inflation naturally induces a reduction in purchasing power and impacts payment habits. We see this with the increase in non-payments which is undoubtedly significant but less than that observed internationally. The evolution of unpaid debts in number is more marked among individuals, whereas in terms of outstanding, the majority is among companies. All in all, we are on a return to normative levels of due payments. Not at the same level as 2019, but improving in 2020 and 2021.
FNH: After a long wait, the government has finally adopted the bill dedicated to Credit Information Bureaux. What are the main contributions of this reform?
 
Sidimohamed: The long-awaited reform of the Credit Information Bureaux (BIC) will allow better control of systemic risks and better accessibility to financing. It will also make it possible to take a big step towards financial inclusion and ensure that the BICs collect other sources of information besides traditional data. This so-called alternative data from major billers, such as telecom operators, water and electricity suppliers, insurance companies and others, will compensate for the lack of historical information on unbanked customers. The availability of this information will allow financing institutions to open up, with less apprehension, to new customers (individuals and VSMEs) who do not have a banking history but justify good payment habits. And this while reducing the use of guarantees. I remind you that of the 53% of the population with a bank account, less than 30% have access to credit. Therefore, this reform aims to widen access to financing for this population outside the circuit.
FNH: What are Creditinfo Group’s priorities in Morocco and West Africa in the short to medium term?
 
Sidimohamed: With more than 30 active credit bureaus, Creditinfo now has the most robust global presence in this sector. For over 25 years, we’ve provided credit bureau and risk management solutions and trusted business information to some of the world’s largest lenders, governments and central banks. The objective is to increase financial inclusion and generate economic growth by allowing access to credit for SMEs and individuals. Creditinfo is the industry leader in Africa, with a presence in 18 countries. The company which continues to be strengthened with two new acquisitions dating back barely a month, in Uganda and Namibia.
FNH: Checkinfo, Bank Al-Maghrib’s delegate for managing the irregular check centralization service, started its activities in April 2021. What is your experience feedback to date?
 
Sidimohamed: After two years of activity, and according to the feedback from our users, we can say that Checkinfo has a significant positive impact on their cash flow and the hassles associated with collection. Indeed, it should be known that 84% of the checks checked and posted irregularly come from accounts in prohibited banking. Therefore, these people are already in banking irregularity because of bad checks or other, and continue to issue checks which, of course, will be returned unpaid. Today, Checkinfo allows its users to protect themselves against these frauds. Moreover, the efficiency rate of the service is 99.6%. Also, you should know that out of all the checks that are checked, 13% are irregular.
Article translated in English as first seen on Finance News Hebdo 

For more inofmormation visit: www.checkinfo.ma

Creditinfo designated “High Overall Maturity Score” ESG rating by Anthesis

At Creditinfo, we recognize the importance of sustainable business practices. Our commitment to this is reflected in our sustainability policy, which outlines our sustainability focus areas and how we wish to engage them.
 
To better understand where we‘re at and how we can get closer to achieving these goals, we‘ve worked with Sustainability Consultancy Service, Anthesis, on our ESG Maturity Assessment. We‘re proud to announce that we‘ve achieved a High Overall Maturity Score – the most advanced maturity rating that Anthesis designates.
 
As a leading provider of credit information and risk management solutions operating in more than 30 countries, we are committed to improving access to finance for individuals and businesses and want to promote sustainable practices in everything we do. It‘s great to see that our hard work is paying off, and we will continue to make improvements to improve our ESG performance.“ says Paul Randall, CEO of Creditinfo Group.
For more information on our sustainability policy visit –  https://creditinfo.com/about-us/sustainability/