The human face of big data – the trust advantage

The Creditinfo Global Forum 2015 held in Istanbul, Turkey in September 2015 brought together 175 influential specialists, practitioners and providers within the credit and finance industry from 57 countries. Amongst the participants were representatives from Central Banks, Commercial Banks, Credit Bureaus, MicroFinance Institutions, Regulatory Authorities, Financial Associations and many more.

The speakers were from leading organisations in their field, for example PayPal, PEFINDO Credit Bureau, Crossword Cybersecurity and CIFAS to name just a few, along with sponsors from GB Group, MAMBU and Enigma Analiz, as well as Turkish Airlines and Terry McLean.

The overall focus of the conference was ’Big Data’, looking at similar challenges faced on a worldwide basis. The conference was divided in 4 core sections: People and Processes; Big Data for Big Decisions; Access to Finance – who to call; Credit Where Credit is Due. The featured speakers expressed ideas, opinions and shared experiences about important issues including new innovations in technology, different economies and how to deal with a financial crisis, cyber security, alternative data including biometrics and fraud prevention.

paul cigf15Mr. Paul Randall, Head of Business Development, Creditinfo International GmbH and the chair person for the Creditinfo Global Forum 2015 advised, ”Our primary goal was to bring together key decision makers and professionals in the credit and finance industry under the same roof, to openly explore, debate and understand issues concerning our industry. With attendees from more than 57 countries, the conference was truly a global forum and enabled each of the participants an opportunity to share common experiences, ideas and opinions. The presence, enthusiasm and ideas shared by the attendees were key to the success of the event.”

reynir cigf15Mr Reynir Grétarsson, owner and CEO of Creditinfo Group hf continued, ”A key theme that arose from the 2 day conference was ”trust”. Big data is all about people, their behaviours and affinities. Each of the represented organisations at the conference creates a digital identity for individuals, companies and economies. Together, participants considered ways to better understand individuals and companies from their data, principally by building trust. For organisations to obtain the greatest access to data, consumers need to trust that information about them will be safeguarded and only used for the purposes allowed. As more data is gathered, this further positively accelerates access to finance for individuals and small companies and successively facilitates economic growth and a better standard of living for all.”

Ms. Tetyana Sotnykova, Member of the Management Board, JSC Piraeus Bank ICB, Ukraine advised, “ The Creditinfo Global Forum had informative & interesting presenters, also, it was a great place to meet industry colleagues & share experiences in an informal environment.”

Mr. Grétarsson added ”Due to the success of this year’s conference with more than double the attendees than at our first Global Forum in 2013, along with the very positive participant feedback, we are already thinking about our next event, which we will hold in September 2017, also celebrating Creditinfo’s 20th anniversary.”

cigf15The conference ended on a positive note with a call to the participants to continue to work closely with Creditinfo to better design, integrate and implement strategic solutions to improve credit risk management procedures worldwide.

Creditinfo are recognised as a global centre of excellence for innovative credit risk solutions and applications.