Creditinfo Group enters collaboration with Společnost pro Informační Databáze (SID) in Czech Republic

Czech Republic, Prague, April 22nd 2021- Creditinfo Group, the leading global credit information and decision analytics provider, and Společnost pro informační databáze (SID), service provider of SOLUS Credit bureau, have agreed to partner in the areas of data transformation, decisioning engines, data analytics and scorecards development. The agreed partnership enables  SID to use the global credit risk management expertise of Creditinfo Group as well as its solutions and analytical capabilities to better service members of SOLUS Credit bureau, one of the two largest credit bureaus in the Czech market.

“We are proud to have been chosen by SID as it’s partner for members of the SOLUS credit bureau and are looking forward to leverage our global experience as well as presence of our group IT development, global data analytics, and consultancy centre in Prague for Czech banks and financial services players, members of the SOLUS credit bureau” says Seth Marks, Regional Director of Creditinfo Group.

“With Creditinfo Group we materially strengthen our portfolio of software, decisioning and analytical solutions available for both SOLUS members and for the wider Czech financial sector. Connecting its global experience with our strong local presence in the Czech market enables our existing and new customers to further increase efficiency and including improved credit risk decisioning speed, says Ján Hurný, CEO of SID.

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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

About SID

SID is an exclusive service partner and facilitator of SOLUS credit bureau, one of the two largest credit bureaus in the Czech Republic with more than 50 members from banks and financial services. SID enables efficient data exchange among bureau members thus strengthening their insights and decisioning capabilities. More information are available on www.sid.cz and www.solus.cz

Creditinfo Group Awarded World Bank Tender

São Tomé and Príncipe, São Tomé, 19th, April 2021 – Creditinfo Group, the leading global credit information and decision analytics provider, today announces that it was awarded a tender by the Central Bank of São Tomé – represented by AFAP (Agencia Fiduciaria de Administracao de Projectos) who will be handling a project on the delivery and support of Public Credit Registry, financed by the World Bank.

Sao Tome is working with the World Bank with the aim of improving the financial infrastructure in the market, increase access to finance and enhance market stability.  Creditinfo has already supported many markets in achieving this goal and was identified as a trusted and reliable partner.

Creditinfo will provide CBS (Credit Bureau Solutions), including Value-Added Products such as the Statistical Score, MyCreditinfo, Benchmarking and Monitoring – the latest and modern cutting-edge products and services in the credit industry, to help the Central Bank of São Tomé in implementing the Public Credit Registry.

Samúel Ásgeir White, Director of Direct Markets, Creditinfo Group is excited about this opportunity. “The important part is the knowledge transfer and our active approach – direct help to the Central Bank of São Tomé, with the whole implementation process of our modern services in São Tomé and Príncipe, since we have years of experience from the Central Banks around the world that we provide the same products and services to,” he said.

The competition was organized by AFAP as a fiduciary agency responsible for the management of the World Bank’s financial support, in favor of the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe as a borrower, with Creditinfo being elected as winner, among 4 bidders.

On behalf of AFAP, Carlos Bonfim, technical advisor, intervened to congratulate on the conclusion of the contract with Creditinfo, a company whose references allow the prospect of a satisfactory result regarding the updating of the credit risk center of the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe. He ended by expressing the wish that the quality of the partnership between all stakeholders will continue, in order to create a favorable cooperation climate for the implementation of the project.

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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

About AFAP

AFAP was created in 2004 with the aim of managing funds made available by the technical and financial partners of the Government of São Tomé and Príncipe, of which the World Bank stands out in particular. It has an effective and motivated team and is respectful of the best practices for regulating tenders, and today has a portfolio of projects and partners in constant growth. Within the framework of its performance, the main projects such as the installation of fiber optics in Sao Tome Principe to provide high-speed internet services, education and health for all, improvement of the energy system can be cited as an example of success. electricity, namely hydrocentrals, introduction of alternative energies as well as rehabilitation of main roads, etc.

For more information, the following AFAP website can be viewed: www.afap.st

How Creditinfo supports Fintechs

The COVID-19 crisis had a profound financial and social impact across the globe, with several different industry sectors impacted.  Curfews limited the effective utilization of physical branches, forcing financial services firms to turn to online channels.  Few organizations were ready to make the transition to ‘digital lending’ smoothly, but this is where the Fintechs excelled.  Capitalizing on their technical competencies, agility, and focus on specific niches they triggered substantial advances in online lending – ranging from streamlined, friction free customer experience to KYC processes.

Instead of focusing on internal operational efficiencies like traditional banks, Fintechs driving digital lending started to construct an ecosystem of services that evolved around their customers.  Regulators, who have been observing the significant growth of digital lending started to weigh in; either requiring compliance with existing regulations or developing new regulations to be met.  These steps had a wide-ranging impact from data quality to having a prudent credit risk management framework, including analytics, risk management tools, policy and procedures.

Creditinfo is well positioned to support Fintechs, helping them remain focused on providing an outstanding customer digital lending experiences, while ensuring a proven credit risk management framework.  Our approach consists of 4 key services:

1. Data: the first step to perform a credit risk assessment is done by collecting all relevant  Depending on circumstances, this can be traditional (Credit Bureau) or non-traditional (transactional) data.  Data quality checks need to be performed to derive the maximum insight from it.  Operating in 45 countries and providing Credit Bureau services in 23 of them, we define industry standards on data quality.  We know how to combine traditional and non-traditional data to be used in decisioning that meets your risk appetite.
2. Analytics: deriving insight from data is our expertise.  Our highly predictive models underpin objective, prudent credit risk decisions.  By combining non-traditional and traditional, we are able to improve predictive power by over 50%.
3. Decisioning: implement your scorecards with ease in our decisioning system. Streamline and eliminate manual processes to ensure quick and consistent decisions to your customers, providing you a competitive edge.
4. Business know-how: we know how to adapt global best practices within your local environment. We are ready to discuss with you how we have improved lending for one of our customers by over 20% or reduced non-performing loans by 15%.

Please get in touch with us to discuss how we can make a positive step change in your business.

Creditinfo granted AISP license, launches intermediary service

Creditinfo appoints Global Sales Leader

Creditinfo appoints former Experian consultant as global sales leader

Decision analytics leader welcomes Burak Kilicoglu to growth-focused senior role

LONDON, UK, 30th March 2021 – Creditinfo Group, the leading global credit information and decision analytics provider, today announces that it has appointed Burak Kilicoglu as its new Director of Global Markets to guide Creditinfo’s global sales teams strategically and operationally through the company’s next phase of growth.

Burak joins Creditinfo following 15 years at Experian where he provided strategic risk management consultancy on debt management, customer management and originations for retail banking as well as telecommunications sectors. In his new role he will be based out of the company’s Monaco office and set and execute a strategic vision and roadmap for sales in collaboration with other Creditinfo executives and key stakeholders.

With over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, Burak will act as a key liaison between all business unit leaders to grow the global sales team’s capabilities, keeping pace with the ever-growing and changing needs of the business.

“Creditinfo continues to grow and develop as we realize our ambitions to enable corporates, SMEs and individuals be active players in the economy” commented Paul Randall, CEO at Creditinfo Group. “We’re delighted to bring Burak onboard to help us push forward as a business and further our ability to facilitate access to finance while also reducing risk for banks. Burak has a wealth of knowledge and experience that will make him a valuable asset to our business as we embark on our next phase of growth. His appointment, coupled with our new shareholder structure, brings fresh energy, thinking and impetus to our operations and will help us to capitalize on our unique position in the market.”

Burak Kilicoglu, Director of Global Markets at Creditinfo, commented, “I’m excited to be joining Creditinfo at such an important part of its growth journey. This is a company with significant growth potential and incredible products and technology to take to market. As the fintech industry continues to grow in global markets there is a huge opportunity to help organizations gauge their risk appetite and make informed and intelligent lending decisions based on a wide range of data source and market leading analytics technology. I’m very much looking forward to leading that charge and working with Creditinfo’s sales team and senior leaders to work towards expanding our market penetration and helping our clients make informed decisions with confidence.” 

Prior to joining Experian, Burak was a VP in the European Card Services team at Bank of America, and before that held portfolio management roles at Discover Financial Services and Transamerica Retail Finance. He attended the University of Notre Dame – Mendoza College where he graduated with an MBA.  He also has a MS in Industrial Engineering from the Istanbul Technical University.

This appointment follows the announcement of a new shareholder structure, with private equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners as majority shareholders, and the appointment of Paul Randall as Group CEO to lead Creditinfo through a period of development and global expansion.

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About Creditinfo

Established in 1997 and headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland, 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

Media Contacts:

Matt Silver

Babel Agency for Creditinfo Group

creditinfo@babelpr.com

+44 (0)7769 266 452

Creditinfo Group becomes majority shareholder of Kredītinformācijas Birojs (KIB)

LONDON, UK, March 25th, 2021 – Today, Creditinfo Group – the leading global credit information and decision analytics provider – announced that is has increased its stake in JSC “Kredītinformācijas Birojs” (KIB) to 51%, becoming the majority shareholder.  

Earlier this month, the US private equity fund Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP) became the majority shareholder of Creditinfo Group. As the result of that transaction, the share capital of the KIB joint stock company was increased, with ABLV Bank selling its shares.

The other shareholders of the company, including the leading Latvian commercial banks; AS Swedbank, AS SEB banka, AS Luminor Bank, and AS Citadele banka will remain unchanged and will continue to support KIB by serving on the Supervisory Board of the joint stock company.

Jānis Timmermanis, Chairman of the Board of KIB: “This investment is an important confirmation of the company’s potential to continue to grow despite being a relatively young entity and offer lenders throughout the Baltic region modern solutions with scoring and decision capabilities while also enabling prevention of money laundering.”

Brynja Baldursdóttir, Director of Global Markets Creditinfo Nordics: “This announcement marks a significant milestone for Creditinfo and consolidates our presence in the Baltics as a leader in providing Decision-as-a-service solutions – a key component of the Credit Bureau system. With international knowledge and local market support, Creditinfo solutions are setting a high bar wherever they are implemented.”

KIB was founded in May 2013 and is the first licensed credit information bureau in Latvia. KIB helps banks and financial institutions to manage credit risk and apply best practices in risk management and credit operations. Its activities in the field of data processing are licensed and supervised by the State Data Inspectorate.

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About Creditinfo

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, Creditinfo is a global provider of credit information and risk management solutions. As one of the fastest growing companies in its field, Creditinfo facilitates access to finance through intelligent information, software and analysis solutions.

With more than 33 credit bureaus today, Creditinfo has the largest presence in credit risk management worldwide, with significantly greater influence than competitors. For decades, it has provided business information, risk management and credit bureau solutions to major lenders, governments and central banks around the world to increase financial inclusion and create economic growth by giving SMEs and individuals access to credit.

Media Contact:

Matt Silver

Babel Agency for Creditinfo Group creditinfo@babelpr.com

+44 (0)7769 266 452

Creditinfo’s new KYC tool allows affordable background checks of international business partners

Creditinfo is the first company in Estonia to bring the shared KYC utility “Know Your Client” to the market. The tool gathers the data an entrepreneur needs to know about clients and business partners from both Estonia and international reliable databases covering the whole world.

According to the rules of the fight against money-laundering and financing of terrorism, each company is responsible for ensuring that every business transaction and cooperation agreement complies with the terms stated in the anti-money laundering law (the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act). In essence, it is the duty of a company to know their clients and business partners in case of both single transactions and longer business relationships.

“Every entrepreneur needs to check the background of the business partner because when the transaction reaches the bank, it may already be too late. The accounts may be frozen and you could end up losing the money,“ Jaanus Leemets, head of Creditinfo’s product development unit explained. “One questionable transaction, no matter how great or small sums are involved, may significantly increase the overall risk rating of the entrepreneur.”

The background checks of companies and individuals operating in Estonia has been a widely available service for years, but checking the background of international partners has been a great challenge for small and medium-sized companies. Access to reliable international databases is very expensive, and the offered solutions are often not suitable for checking single transactions or compiling detailed reports of the parties involved.

“Banks spend millions of euros a year on anti-money laundering background checks, leaving  entrepreneurs stranded since they have no resources to afford these services. The results of public search portals are also often not reliable, extensive nor up-to-date enough in their content, especially with international companies, as well as also domestic inquiries. We therefore created a tool that makes inquiries from dozens of different reliable, international databases. The new tool is affordable to small businesses as well and it is also simple to use for single inquiries.“ Leemets added.

To get the entrepreneurs started, Creditinfo offers consultations on the correct implementation of the background check and its proficiency. There is also the option of joining the KYC business school in order to understand the essence of KYC regulations, the precise duties, everyday needs of their companies, and all available options to regularly check the background of clients and business partners without spending too much time.

Media contact:

Rain Resmeldt Uusen

Marketing Manager, Creditinfo Estonia

Email: rain@creditinfo.ee

Icelandic Media in 2020 – Creditinfo Iceland

2020 was, to say the least, an eventful year. The highlight of the year was the COVID-19 epidemic, which revolutionized the entire world this year and continues to affect 2021. The first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019 and the first confirmed death related to the virus was confirmed on January 11th 2020. News of the virus began to increase in Iceland as the number of infections outside China increased.

Specific mentions of the word COVID-19 was not not mentioned until the end of February last year. When the first infection was diagnosed in Iceland on 28 February, Icelandic media coverage of the virus increased significantly and reached a certain peak in mid-March, shortly after the World Health Organization declared that the spread of COVID-19 was classified as a pandemic. After that, the number of news items began to increase significantly, but at its peak, 372 news items were broadcast about COVID-19 on March 20, 2020. A total of 41,492 news items containing the word COVID were broadcast this year.

Institutions and companies in the news in 2020

As in previous years, political parties in Iceland were the institutions that received the most mentions in the Icelandic media in 2020. A total of more than 14,000 news items were broadcast about the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) in the past year and about 12,000 news items were broadcast about the Left Greens (Vinstri-Grænir). The effect of COVID-19 can be seen when looking at the high-jumpers on the list of the institutions that were most frequently mentioned in the Icelandic media in 2020. The Directorate of Health was in third place this year among the institutions that were most in the news in 2020 but were in 37th place in 2019. The National Police Commissioners Office was in fourth place in 2020 but was in 45th place in 2019 with a total of over 11,000 news items.

When the list is narrowed down to companies it is clear that one company was particularly popular among the press. A total of 6,000 news items were broadcast about Icelandair this year, followed by Decode Genetics with about 3,100 news items. After them, it was the three commercial banks Íslandsbanki, Landsbankinn and Arion Bank that were most covered in the Icelandic media in 2020.

Would you like further information about media monitoring solutions from Creditinfo Iceland? Please contact us.

This article was originally posted in Icelandic on the Creditinfo Iceland blog.

Banking for the future of Sri Lanka

Interview with Thimal Perera – Deputy CEO, DFCC Bank

Our Senior Business Development Manager, Joe Bowerbank, caught up with Thimal Perera, Deputy CEO of DFCC Bank. Thimal provided a number of interesting insights into how DFCC is strategically dealing with the challenges of operating in 2020 and building a roadmap to continue delivering a first-class banking experience going forward. Thimal has worked in both local and international banks across the globe, looking after a number of different areas from SME and retail, to digital transformation amongst others. This interview focuses on digitalization and credit risk – two areas that have been hot topics for Creditinfo’s clients this year.

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Phone model, mobile internet and missed calls might determine whether you get credit

Press Release                                                                                              

Ever more personal data will in the future determine whether people can get a loan or buy goods on installment. If a person consents, before a decision is made about granting them credit they may be asked for permission to examine not just repayment of past loans but also other private information: what model of phone they have, whether they actively use mobile internet, whether they often do not answer calls. It may even be suggested that they play a real-time game whose outcome will determine whether they as a customer are creditworthy. 

While companies that give credit have typically relied only on information gathered by financial institutions, now more and more personal data will influence decision-making. Whether credit is granted, how much, and on what terms may depend on whether a customer is ready to share that information.

“There’s no doubt that personal data can only be used with the person’s consent,” Creditinfo Head of Decision Analytics for the Baltic states, Maxim Fetisov immediately stresses. “But practice shows that openly sharing additional information increases a creditor’s trust, lets them more accurately assess each customer’s trustworthiness, and even allows customers to expect more favorable credit terms.” Research conducted by Creditinfo has shown that knowledge about a customer’s personal habits gives creditors just as many insights as formal data.

A recent conference “Scoring Kitchen” by Creditinfo, which rates the creditworthiness of companies and individuals in more than 50 countries, addressed what is new in the scoring process. For example, a study was done together with telco company on how people’s financial reliability relates to their everyday behaviour. Analysis of the data revealed that even how long people use one telecom operator’s services shows which ones are financially more trustworthy: the longer someone uses the same telco’s services, the more financially reliable their loan-payment history is too. And on the contrary, customers who frequently change operators generally demonstrated a higher level of riskiness.

Those without 4G and who use mobile internet little fall into a higher-risk group

Creditinfo analyst Allan Anyona, who took part in the study, also notes that individuals who are less financially reliable tend to have more modest internet plans and rush to connect as quickly as possible to free Wi-Fi networks at home and elsewhere.

Moreover, it was observed that the more advanced the network connection a potential customer’s phone supports, the greater their creditworthiness. So customers using phones that support 4G network requirements are seen more favorably than those whose phones only work on a 2G network or do not make such information available.

Many missed calls points to a frequent debtor

Creditors get useful insights as well from data about whether a potential customer often fails to answer incoming calls. People were divided into five categories: those who fail to answer calls very often, often, an average amount, rarely, and very rarely. It turns out the most financially reliable were those in the last two groups. The riskiest customers, meanwhile, were among the people who “miss” calls more often than others.

“We assume that people experiencing financial difficulties avoid answering calls as they do not want to talk with creditors or with relatives to whom they may also be in debt,” the Creditinfo Group analyst explains.

With smart devices revealing more and more information about consumers, creditors are eager to actively look at other habits too – like the use of a mobile wallet. The more punctually a customer tops up their mobile wallet limit and the bigger their income, the higher their credit rating will be. Conversely, the smaller someone’s income is and the longer they use credit provided by a telco, the more cautiously other lenders will view them. So those people should not be surprised if they are not allowed to buy a more expensive item on installment or are refused a bigger credit limit on a payment card.

Games show how you will behave with real money

Seeking to get a more objective assessment of a customer’s creditworthiness and to automate the decision-making process, psychometric data are being used ever more actively. A future customer may be asked to play a quiz that takes 5-7 minutes. It may be a series of questions, like: how would you use an unexpected gift of €200 – would you spend it on entertainment or save it? Studies show that the customers who meet their financial obligations most responsibly tend to choose the answer ‘I would save it’ in the game, while the riskiest customers more often choose ‘I would spend it on entertainment’.

“We realize that over time skilled players learn to choose those answer that creditors view more favorably. But in calculating any individual’s rating, dozens of other factors are also assessed, like their insurance history, repayment of earlier loans, payment of utilities bills, and so on,” CEO of Creditinfo Lithuania, Aurimas Kačinskas notes.

The pandemic also altered how companies are rated – there are new factors

The CEO of Creditinfo Lithuania says the challenges of the pandemic in 2020 are also changing the rules for rating businesses. New factors have arisen that impact credit scores. For instance, a new indicator for the impact of Covid-19 has altered the current ratings of companies all over the world. It shows how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted every area of business (e.g., tourism, hotels, manufacturing, transport, etc.) and how companies’ creditworthiness relates to the geographic location of their operations, demand for the goods they produce, and possibilities for quickly recovering after restrictions and quarantine end. Businesses’ ratings are also heavily influenced by a ‘Collection’ indicator that reflects whether a company punctually settles with its creditors.

“We have no doubt that the new factors that are coming up will have an increasing significance for companies’ credit scores – in a time of economic turmoil, it’s very important for creditors to objectively assess every customer’s riskiness and make the most accurate decisions possible,” Maxim Fetisov, Head of Decision Analytics in the Baltics says.

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About Creditinfo

Established in 1997 and headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland, 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 analytics solutions.

With more than 33 credit bureaus running today, Creditinfo has the largest global presence in the field of credit bureau and 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 – all with the aim of increasing financial inclusion and generating economic growth by allowing credit access for SMEs and individuals.

For more information: 

Media Contacts:

Caterina Ponsicchi,
Marketing Director, Creditinfo Group

c.ponsicchi@creditinfo.com