April 2014
Player of the Month: Kazakhstan
With the support of the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan, 1CB Kazakhstan recently hosted a very successful event in Almaty dedicated to discussing the introduction of legal restrictions on the leverage ratio (KDN) and limiting growth of unsecured lending, which entered into force in Kazakhstan from 1 April 2014. The relevance of the event was confirmed by the interest of more than one hundred representatives from the banks, the National Bank of Kazakhstan, financial institutions and the business media.
Ruslan Omarov, CEO, 1CB, Kanat Khalilov, Senior Risk Manager, 1CB and Paul Randall, Business Development Director, Creditinfo International spoke at the event. You can watch a recording of Paul & Kanat’s presentations on the internet which they kindly repeated for the Creditinfo Academy.
Team Outings
Creditinfo Solutions went to a ice hockey match of the Russian Continental League between HC Lev Prague and HC Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Dima is a dedicated supporter of Lokomotiv and he invited a few colleagues to see the match with him. Alex, Almar and Seth went are along with our lone warrior Dima!
Also, CIS had a skiing weekend in Austria. CIS people who participated: Radek Bittner, Tomáš Tichý, Jarda Jirava, Filip Kratochvíl, Tomáš Straka, David Kvasnica, Filip Hodúl and a few other friends of the team.
Welcome Jóhanna Magnúsdóttir
Originally working at the company as an intern, Jóhanna did such a great job, we offered her a full time role! She equally must have enjoyed her time with us as she accepted! She will now principally be working with the team on Credit Bureau Expansion. Jóhanna holds a Master Degree in Law for the University of Akureyri.
Working with Credit Unions and Data
Bob Metodiev, Senior Product Development Manager, Data and Targeting Services, Canada Post gave a presentation today on how Canada Post work with Credit Unions and Data.
Bob can be contacted via Linked In: ca.linkedin.com/pub/bob-metodiev/4/a04/998
You can watch Bob’s presentation video here: Vimeo
The Creditinfo Academy – connecting people and sharing best practice
The Creditinfo Academy was established with two primary purposes, firstly as a knowledge centre for the 280 Creditinfo employees worldwide and secondly, for the client base and partners to share information about their organizations and to provide feedback on working with Credit Bureaus and Credit Risk Management Service Providers.
The Creditinfo Academy arranges bi-weekly webinars for its worldwide audience on credit industry related topics and more general business topics, bringing together their senior management team and employees with a number of influential specialists, business experts, practitioners and providers within the Credit Industry. The webinars present an excellent opportunity for all involved to share ideas about the challenges and best practice worldwide.
Reynir Grétarsson, CEO of Creditinfo Group, is a firm believer that “Information is the lifeblood of the modern economy.” He advises, “Creditinfo is pleased to be able to provide a worthwhile and unique learning experience. This is just one of various steps to enhance mutual understanding and best practice within the Credit Industry. The Creditinfo Academy demonstrates how collaboration can work in practice to achieve improvements in the industry by identifying common data issues and sharing knowledge. We address a broad range of topical subjects and will continue to take the initiative in the development of new services and processes in the Credit Bureau industry.”
Amongst a few of the more recent external credit industry speakers are representatives from global influential organizations such as Institute of Financial Literacy (Iceland), The Association of Credit for Central and Eastern Europe s.r.o. (Czech Republic), Royal Bank of Scotland (UK) and Microbilt (USA), who have delivered incisive views on a wide range of subjects and shared information about their actual experiences in the credit industry.
The Creditinfo Academy also kicked off 2014 with an inspirational presentation on “Change Management” from Mr. Paul Gauci, a training and development professional from Malta who lectures regularly at the University of Malta and who this year, also celebrates 34 years as Head of Training & Development at the Bank of Valletta.
Almar Hilmarsson, CEO of Creditinfo International, the holding company for Creditinfo, as well as the centre for know-how and service to subsidiaries and customers, advised, “Through the Creditinfo Academy, our Partnership Programmes and Global Forums, we are able to develop & continually improve Creditinfo’s strategy. Our culture of talented individuals working together on a global basis is the engine that helps drive our client’s success, as such we are committed to developing them further. Equally, the feedback from our customers is paramount, in enabling us to build upon our knowledge base to deliver better results. We work with numerous organizations worldwide and are able to pass on new ideas and lessons learned from those experiences.” Continue reading »
Bank of Guyana support Creditinfo Guyana newly launched SeeRisk International Business Report
Mr. Lawrence Williams, Governor of the Bank of Guyana
On Thursday, March 28, 2014, Creditinfo Guyana formally introduced to Guyana, and the business sector in particular, two new value added products to its existing line of credit reports, where advantage of global opportunities can be taken with greater confidence.
Speaking at the launch, Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Mr. Lawrence Williams (pictured) reiterated the Bank’s support for Creditinfo Guyana and encouraged business entities to utilize the SeeRisk Report which would “provide adequately for informed decision-making, enhance compliance with the AML/CFT* Act, and consequently lend to improved performance and increased assets of the various users”.
He opined that “the undertaking to launch the value added product – SeeRisk Report – to its mainstream business is highly commendable, and moreover shows that Creditinfo is committed to assisting in strengthening the financial sector, making Guyana attractive to foreign investments and providing meaningful information and data for individuals and companies to safely conduct business transactions with their counterparts in other countries.”
The SeeRisk International Business Report offers a powerful decision making mechanism for the facilitation of international business transactions through the provision of financial and credit related information.
It is a comprehensive report that allows for vital and necessary insights to be gained before an entity commences trade with a foreign company or individual. It helps to effectively countermand the deceptive effects provided merely by an attractive website and offers safeguards against the ease with which a company that exists only in cyberspace can steal away the investment capital of hardworking businessmen.
Access to accurate global business information on demand allows for more informed decisions on offering credit or engaging in any business transaction whether locally or internationally originated.
Creditinfo Academy in Guyana – working together to improve risk management in the new era of credit bureau
Attendees were shown case studies of the impact in other countries across the world where access to finance had grown considerably and especially for SMEs who are often seen as a motor for growth. Furthermore, banks have more efficient procedures and control on bad debts which leads to a more stable banking environment.
In the second session, attendees were given a real insight of how they can use credit reports to change the decisions of every loan application. Individuals and business applicants will be judged objectively on the real evidence of their historical payments removing much of the subjective element. Working in teams, the attendees were able to discuss the practical issues while on-line to Creditinfo Guyana’s system and credit reports. Together they shared experiences with their peers from different institutions. Continue reading »
