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/

Creditinfo Lithuania included immunization levels into its list of corporate indicators  

After the Department of Statistics launched publication of immunization levels in specific companies, credit office Creditinfo Lithuania immediately included this indicator into its corporate reports. From now on, clients ordering detailed information about a selected company will be able to see the proportion of immunized staff.

“The inclusion of immunization indicator into corporate reports will facilitate a better risk analysis of potential disruptions of activities due to staff illnesses which will help a business partner, or a client make further business decisions”, Aurimas Kačinskas, CEO of Creditinfo Lithuania said.

The first ever publication of immunization levels has demonstrated that, e.g., the largest share of immunized staff (80%) work for the IT sector, and the least immunized staff (as little as 27%) work for transportation companies. In comparison, as many as 80% of Creditinfo Lithuania staff have already been vaccinated.

Moreover, the official information published by the Department of Statistics will soon enable comparison of the share of immunized staff in one enterprise with counterpart organizations in the same business sector. To this end, an additional indicator is published as well – the so-called percentile. For instance, if an enterprise’s percentile is 100, it means that it is among one percent of companies with the highest immunization level. The lower the percentile, the fewer employees have immunity, i.e., have been vaccinated with at least one doze or have recovered from the coronavirus.

According to the Department of Statistics, for the purpose of confidentiality the percentage of immunization is indicated only for those workplaces with over 10 members of staff.

“We believe that monitoring these indicators contributes to the national fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, encouraging companies to take a more proactive approach with regard to staff vaccination”, A. Kačinskas said adding that “we always try to include new indicators into our reports in a timely manner so that our clients could benefit from exhaustive information about other companies”.

As of last May, Creditinfo Lithuania included into the list of monitored indicators information about average gender pay, and soon is planning to introduce yet another one – the sustainability indicator.

The ‘Cornwall Consensus’ – A Credit Bureau Perspective

From a credit bureau perspective, a close partnership between government and business has always been essential to ensure the economic goals of a country are achieved.  It was therefore interesting to see this relationship being promoted as part of the ‘Cornwall Consensus’ last week at G7.

Gillian Tett of the Financial Times was discussing this concept in a recent article which considered the ‘profound, reset under way of the relationship between business and government.’ Tett describes the change by which ‘companies were regarded as independent actors competing with one another, without state involvement,’ to a relationship which would result in more of a ‘“partnership” between government and business.’

From a credit bureau perspective, this is a familiar concept and one that has been central to the proliferation of bureaus across the globe over the last 15 years. It has been very successful in ensuring that emerging markets have the necessary financial infrastructure to support the growth of MSMEs and SMEs, to provide banking stability and deliver access to regulated financial services for all rather than it just being the reserve of the wealthy middle classes.

Private international investment is at the heart of this partnership with government by creating a sturdy financial infrastructure and sharing technical knowledge with local institutions. This is closely overseen and regulated by the governments and central banks with further support given by the World Bank. Creditinfo has been one of the leading global experts that has made significant investments in setting up new credit bureaus in green field markets under the regulation of local central banks.

The support of governments has been critical to accelerate access to finance for the “invisible” unbanked by introducing regulation to require the inclusion of “alternative data” such as utility data and mobile or nano loans. The benefit of this is that it enables a broad section of the population to create a financial footprint upon which they can build a credit history for the future. This was further endorsed by recent research from the PERC group.

The relationships between businesses and governments should see the development of new solutions to support SME and MSME growth as companies of this size are the backbone of many economies, especially in developing markets. Government departments will often have registers of companies which can be used in supervised environments to facilitate improved assessment of loans or credit making it faster and easier for SMEs to access financial support.

Government-investor partnerships may be seem like new vision emerging from the pandemic when state support was essential, however, for investors like Creditinfo that have been working within such a framework for many years, it is a proven method to achieve social, economic and business goals.

 Creditinfo invites the strongest companies to join the effort of making Lithuania greener

Green Parks of the Strongest Companies to Flourish in Lithuania

This year the Strongest will have an opportunity to contribute directly to the building of a greener Lithuania and to enter their names in the parks of the Strongest in Lithuania. Creditinfo shall plant a tree for each certificate awarded to the financially strongest companies. A new park of oak, maple, birch and linden trees will be planted in one of the busiest roundabouts between the Gerosios Vilties, Laisvės and Savanoriai streets in Vilnius this autumn.

The initiative of the credit bureau has received support from the Vilnius City Municipality. According to the Municipality, there are still many public areas in Vilnius which need to be planted, meanwhile the increasing population of the city  drives the necessity to create as many green areas as possible.

“We welcome the initiative of Creditinfo to contribute to the making our city more beautiful and we support their idea of planting trees at one of the busiest roundabouts that is crossed by tens of thousands of citizens and visitors of Vilnius every day,“ says Remigijus Šimašius, the Mayor of Vilnius. We are glad to see that the strongest companies in Lithuania make active contribution to the improvement of the environment around us.“

Creditinfo awards the Strongest in Lithuania certificates to the companies that are selected for their outstanding financial indicators, including appropriate payment of taxes, timely discharge of obligation towards employees and business partners, and sound financial discipline. Every year Creditinfo assesses businesses against over a hundred of different indicators and nominates up to 2.5 thousand of the strongest companies in Lithuania. Over 11 years of certification, the title of the Strongest in Lithuania has been awarded to over 20 thousand companies.

“This year the Strongest  in Lithuania certification follows the principle Strong Companies Make Strong Decisions. Society expects contemporary companies to demonstrate comprehensive leadership in all walks of life. It is extremely important not only to secure financial stability of a company, but also to put into practice social responsibility and take care of the public good,“ says Aurimas Kačinskas, CEO of Creditinfo Lietuva. “We invite companies to join the effort of building a stronger and greener Lithuania.“

According to the CEO of the credit bureau, the capital city of Vilnius has been chosen to be the first to see the planting of the Strongest in Lithuania park. The traffic in Vilnius is heavy, making the quality of the air a high priority, therefore the first Strongest in Lithuania park is to be planted in the busy Gerosios Vilties roundabout. In the future, Vilnius may be followed by other cities and towns, depending on the involvement of the strongest companies in the initiative.

The Value of the Certificate is Higher this Year

The CEO of the credit bureau points out that this year the companies awarded with the Strongest in Lithuania certificate have a strong reason to be proud of sustainability of their activity. “Not all businesses have managed to secure their financial stability during the pandemic, therefore this year the award of the certificate recognizes the ability of businesses to weather a crisis and flexibility to adjust to the exceptionally complex conditions,“ says A. Kačinskas. “To distinguish companies with sound financial discipline, we will have their names written on the special memorial stand to be put up in the park.“

About the Strongest in Lithuania certificate  

The credit bureau launched the Strongest in Lithuania certification in 2010, and this year counts the 11th season of certification already. The Strongest in Lithuania is the only recognized business credibility certificate in the Baltics with the longest history of existence. Over the decade, more than 15,000 Lithuanian companies have earned the right to use the certificate as a proof of their good financial reputation. Upon decision of Creditinfo Lietuva, this token of high credibility is awarded to companies with outstanding professional management practices, i.e. those that generate stabile income and profit, pay taxes and fulfil obligations to their partners on time, and have no debts.

Creditinfo’s commitment to Data Quality

Data is the new oil, but quality is paramount

In 2017, The Economist ran a cover story portraying data as the new oil, (certainly not last week’s oil), calling it “the world’s most valuable resource”. Data is pervasive and is collected regarding virtually everything that happens. Essentially it comes down to one simple cycle, as described in that 2017 issue: “By collecting more data, a firm has more scope to improve its products, which attracts more users, generating even more data, and so on…” Information is power (for credit bureaus, the power to enhance market lending effectiveness). But there is a catch; because not any kind of data will suffice. In the world of credit, for it to be valuable, data must be complete, high quality, regularly transmitted and verifiable. High-quality data has a deeper, more transformative power. In this industry, data quality and completeness are critical for the successful impact of credit bureaus, and Creditinfo has, since its founding, had a clear focus on this area to support banks, MFIs and other institutions for constant improvement.

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How to use your credit score to negotiate better terms with your financial institution

Last week, a leading TV station in Kenya – Citizen TV did a story on Digital Lending Apps and their impact in Kenya. There has been a sharp rise in the number of mobile lending apps in the country and the worry is about how people are accumulating debt and borrowing from the various apps simultaneously and defaulting therefore affecting their credit score.

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PRESS RELEASE: Know your credit score to make better informed financial decisions

PRESS RELEASE

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, November 22, 2018

– all lending agencies are mandated by law to share all credit data with the credit bureau

– “a lender cannot pull your credit report without your consent”

– know your credit score – it prevents over-indebtedness and encourages responsible borrowing and brings stability to the financial sector

– credit bureau was established in 2013 and operates under the Credit Report Act of 2010 and the Credit Reporting [Amendment] Act of 2016

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Dressing up for Charity

Creditinfo Malta raising money for Hospice Malta (see link below).

What a lovely looking and somewhat crazy bunch we have in Malta! 🙂

Malta dressing up for charity

 

http://hospicemalta.org/

Corporate Social Responsibility

This month, Reynir was pleased to receive a letter from Yevgeniy Momsikov. Yevgeniy is from Kazakhstan and is sponsored by Creditinfo to further his studies in USA. He is currently living in Boston, Massachusetts with a number of other students close to Harvard University, where he is studying. Yevgeniy has joined the Adams Society debate club having now improved his English language capabilities over the time spent in USA. Yevgeniy expressed his gratitude to Reynir in the letter for Creditinfo’s support in providing him not only with a memorable experience, but in also opening his horizons through this opportunity.

We wish Yevgeniy all the best and lots of success in his studies and future.

News from Ivory Towers

Almar’s Monthly

 

pay it forward

       Pay It Forward

 http://payitforwardday.com/about/about-the-day/

“Pay It Forward” is all about the act of giving to someone else and making

a positive difference and it is celebrated on Thursday 30th April 2015 and

         “Random Acts of Kindness” is another similar event celebrated in November:

          https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

 

 

 

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