Strategic steps in Africa: Compuscan Group invests in Creditinfo Group
A strategic partnership between Creditinfo and the largest independent credit bureau in Africa, Compuscan, will drive growth, accelerate innovation and assist organisations in making better informed credit risk management and business decisions in emerging markets. Backed by Actis, the pan-emerging markets investor, Compuscan has invested in a minority share of the international credit information and risk management solutions provider.
Meet our new Board Members
At a Board Meeting in May, we introduced our new Board Members. We decided that we wanted to have some very smart people join us, to strengthen decision making and to help guide the Group to the next level. People who will look from the outside in. We are pleased to welcome:
Nora Kerpolla, who is well known to the Creditinfo family, having been involved with us as a shareholder since 2010. She has had a successful career in private equity. Particularly, she has had success in relation to many information and technology companies. She was the Chairman of the Finnish Credit Bureau and in just a short period of time, she helped see the value of that company increase by more than 250%. Find Nora on LinkedIn.
Jakob Sigurdsson, has successfully managed strategic and operational turn-arounds and ran private and listed businesses with US$350 million to $1 billion in turnover. He has also been the Captain of the Icelandic National Handball team. Additionally, he played for the national Handball team in 3 different Olympics too – 1984 in LA, USA, 1988 in Seoul, Korea and also 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. Handball was the favourite sport of the country during these times (Iceland sucked at football in those days!). Find Jakob on LinkedIn.
Risk Challenge Micro 2016: Micromarkets. Macroscopes
The first specialized forum for microfinance organizations the Risk Challenge Micro 2016: Micromarkets. Macroscopes took place in Almaty on the May 15, 2016. The forum was organized by the First Credit Bureau with support of “Damu” Entrepreneurship Development Fund” JSC, National Chamber of Entrepreneurs “Atameken”, Akimat of Almaty, Kazakhstan Association of FinTech organizations (specialized association for Internet-lenders) and others partners.
Utilities ‘sign on’ to Share Data with Creditinfo Guyana Credit Bureau
All of the Guyana’s commercial banks, as well as some major state and non-state service entities, have now signed on as data providers to Creditinfo Guyana Credit Bureau, a development which has created an enabling environment in which larger numbers of persons can, potentially, secure hassle-free and in many instances, badly needed credit.
Creditinfo Localises Credit Scoring, Cites High Credit Card Usage
Jamaica’s loan market was valued at $544 billion throughout the banking system at the end of 2015. Credit-card transactions in that year topped $212 billion. It reflected an annual increase of 10.6 per cent in the value of transactions, while volumes rose 13.5 per cent to 14.7 million transactions, according to Central Bank data.
From May 2016, Creditinfo Jamaica will now provide localised credit scores. Previously, although Creditinfo Jamaica provided access to credit scores since October 2013, the score offered then was based on an expert model. Simply put, the model used then was based on certain features from another market with vast similarities to Jamaica. The localisation of credit scores typically requires nine to 18 months of consecutive data and a rigorous assessment process. The localised score model will help both consumers and lenders as it is more predictable than the expert model and therefore affords a better decision process for subscribers.
Key Findings from the World Bank
The World Bank gave some key findings at the BNM-IFC Credit Infrastructure conference
The World Bank Group gave some interesting key findings during the conference in Kuala Lumpur where Paul spoke on the 4th of April. The key findings are related to the positive relationship between access to finance and job growth.
Key Findings:
- Increased access to finance results in increased job growth in developing countries
- Firms with access to a loan exhibit employment growth between 1 and 3 percentage points larger than firms with no access to finance
- Introduction of credit bureaus (CBs) increases employment growth by over 5 percentage points compared to countries where CBs do not exist
- Association between finance and job growth is stronger among MSMEs than among large firms
- MSME firms with access to a loan have between a 1 and 4 percentage point larger employment growth than MSMEs without a loan
- Introduction of CBs elicits a job growth response among MSMEs that is over six times larger than that among large firms
Click on the link below to see more detailed pages of the Key Findings
http://chronicle.creditinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CRINFRA2016_Pre-Session_Mahesh-Tony.pdf
Or visit the World Bank’s Website for more info
http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialsector/brief/credit-infrastructure
New name for Czech Republic
After 27 years the Czech President, Prime Minister and the other top country officials have finally agreed that not having a one word name for the country and using Czech Republic instead is too long. They asked the United Nations to officially recognize “Czechia” as an alternative country name. Together with this demand they also asked it for other foreign-language equivalents, such as la Tchéquie in French. So, they finally took the name which existed already in the 18th century and made it a one word name for the country. Now we can call them “Czechia” in casual communication!
Creditinfo working with Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
On April 14th 2016, Creditinfo and vice-governor of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe signed a contract for the delivery of Creditinfo’s Credit Bureau Solution, CB5. Communication and negotiation took place over a number of months throughout 3 key tender applications. The CB5 system will be used by 18 banks, 120 MFIs and also 4 Public Credit Bureaus currently operating in Zimbabwe. The most challenging part of this contract is delivery time, with just 12 weeks from implementation to live launch. Radek Bittner (Sales), Tomáš Tichý (Business Consultant) and Michal Dostál (Project Manager) were the 3 man delegation who visited Harare for the finalisation of the contract agreement and who delivered the 1st project Workshop for customisation of system parameters.
Meet some of our colleagues in Latvia
As you know, in January we told you about the developments of the CBS system designed for Latvia. So we thought you’d like to meet some of the team and if you have any questions about this or in general, you can contact them at info@kib.lv
Currently, the team is just 6 people:
Martin Paupers, Product Product and Process Development Manager (pictured far Left)
Janis TImermanis, CEO (2nd from left), Ligia Greiere, Customer Service Manager (2nd from right)
Intars Mikelsons, Sales & Business Development Manager (Far Right),
Brigita Mironova, Direct Sales Manager (not pictured) and Peteris Reiters, Customer Service (not pictured)
The Creditinfo Family is growing – Now more than 400 employees
In the last 3 years, we have more than doubled our number of employees, through acquisitions, new start ups, new partnerships and our original offices growing in strength and requiring more staff to cope with the increased work load.
Many of our staff have been with the organisation more than 7 years, some well in excess of a decade. Not only do we have a loyal core team, we also have some very experienced and knowledgeable people.
