New Creditinfo Jamaica Country Manager encourages Jamaicans to be proactive
Christopher R. Brown who was appointed as the new Country Manager for Creditinfo Jamaica on August 11, 2021, is encouraging Jamaicans to “be vigilant in guarding their credit history and their credit data and in managing them” to ensure there are no surprises when individuals or businesses seek to access services which require a credit report.
Brown, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, reminded Jamaicans that they are entitled to one free copy of their credit report each year by law. He said Jamaicans should go to any of the credit bureaus and request their credit report each year and scrutinise it for “errors or outdated information” and where these are found, “they can then lodge a formal dispute after which it is the responsibility by law for the institution that they have lodged the complaint against, to investigate and correct it, once it is proven that it is an inaccurate record that is kept for that individual”.
He said errors can occur in the case where people may “have closed an account and completed payments on a loan account or a mortgage account, or a hire purchase agreement, and unfortunately it is not updated in the system and it is negatively impacting their credit score. So even after you have closed an account or some contract, or some credit cards or loans that you have paid, it is good to check to ensure those information are updated in the system so that your credit report is always current and up to date, because managing your credit is very essential in these days where credit is king and so fundamental to economic livelihood and, by extension, economic growth.”
He told Sunday Finance that if the entity against which the error complaint is brought, investigates and validates that there was an error, the law requires an updated credit report to be generated and dispatched to the institution which the individual had sought to do business with in the last six months. Whether terms or conditions of any agreements change after the updated information is then to be negotiated with the entity with which the individual is doing business. He stressed the importance of having the records updated because entries stay on the report for seven years.
Brown said getting Jamaicans to be vigilant in guarding their credit data is the message Credit Info Jamaica is pushing.
Credit Info Jamaica is the first credit bureau that was established in the country following the passage of the Credit Reporting Act in 2010. The company, which started its Jamaica operation in 2011, is part of a global network which has operations in Europe, Africa and sections of the Caribbean. In the region it also has facilities in Barbados, Guyana and the Eastern Caribbean.
“We see ourselves as an important part of the local financial infrastructure…part of the push for economic growth,” he outlined. Credit bureaus “have been a fundamental part of the whole improvement in how individuals and institutions now manage their risk in an integrated way. Whereas in the past, institutions would have to take the information that is given to them either by the client and other sources that they have to use intelligence to gather, now they can get it instantly, automated and at the click of a button, they can have the information of a customer sitting infront of them. It makes the application process more efficient and faster. It allows institutions to know how and who they can market their products to and what type of products they can market to individuals. It allows them to determine the credit terms that they will offer based on the credit history associated with the individual,” he added. He indicated that this has seen Jamaicans being more responsible because the list of institutions which credit bureaus collect information from to create a credit profile on an individual is extensive.
Article was originally published on the Jamaica Observer
Edwin Urasa appointed new CEO of Creditinfo Tanzania
New CEO Creditinfo Tanzania
Press Release
London, UK.
30/11/2021
Creditinfo Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Edwin Urasa as new CEO and Executive Director of Creditinfo Tanzania effective 01st November 2021. He is replacing Mr. Van Reynders whose tenure ended in April 2021.
Edwin brings 10 years of experience from the local banking industry having spent significant time around credit and risk management, recently before joining he was responsible for the Retail and Micro-SME segment at NBC Bank as Head of Retail Credit.
“I am especially excited to join Creditinfo Tanzania, which has been in operation for the last 9 years and has over the years continued to grow rapidly enabling small to large organizations effectively manage risk and support the government and banking community providing responsible lending in Tanzania. I am looking forward to expanding the companies’ product portfolio and services through application of best practices while leveraging Creditinfo global knowledge and expertise”.
“We are very excited to have Edwin Urasa join us as the new Creditinfo Tanzania CEO. With his vast knowledge and experience in the Tanzanian banking and credit industry, we have no doubt that he will lead Creditinfo Tanzania to greater heights and move the company’s journey forward in pushing our innovative solutions to the Tanzania market as well as pushing one of our core pillars – financial literacy, to the public at large”, says Paul Randall, CEO of Creditinfo Group.
Edwin holds a Bachelor Degree in Commerce (Hons), Majoring in Finance from the University of Dar es Salaam, an MBA from Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University-UK and has also several certifications namely, a Mortgage advisor (CeMAP)-UK, Modules in Commercial Credit from Moody’s Analytics-USA, and Risk Management from City University -UK.
ENDS.
PR contacts:
Marketing Manager/ PR for East Africa
Phidi Mwatibo
Email: Phidi.mwatibo@creditinfo.com
Creditinfo Group, TASDEEQ, PACRA and APL partner with Pakistan Banks’ Association to facilitate wider access to housing finance
Consortium will develop a market-level application scorecard and income estimation model to boost financial inclusion in Pakistan
LONDON, UK, 21st October 2021 – Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA) recently announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with a consortium of leading financial services and technology businesses to improve access to finance for low-income segments of the population currently excluded from traditional housing finance.
The consortium, comprised of Creditinfo Group, a global credit information and fintech service provider; TASDEEQ, Pakistan’s first SBP Licensed Credit bureau, offering cutting-edge reports, statistical scores, and analytical tools for the financial industry for efficient credit risk and strategic decision making; Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA) and Analytics Pvt Ltd, a leading Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, Big Data Analytics and Data Sciences solutions provider, will work together to develop for PBA a market-level application scorecard and income estimation model aimed at streamlining risk assessments and enabling a wider pool of applicants to access financing for their housing needs.
The consortium brings together industry-leading credit risk analytics knowledge, alongside extensive experience in Pakistan and emerging markets globally. The development and deployment of the automated income estimation & credit assessment methodology will be overseen through the PBA platform.
This project is being managed by the PBA Technology Working Group, comprising CEOs and members of Bank Alfalah, HBL and Faysal Bank as well as the CEO of PBA and a senior official of State Bank of Pakistan. This is a novel and unique project, and the first of its kind in Pakistan, where a scorecard will be developed using an alternative source of data.
The scorecard project will support the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme (NPHP), a government-backed initiative providing low-cost, affordable housing to deserving individuals in Pakistan that is expected to be a catalyst to accelerated economic activity and increased job opportunities in the region following the negative impact of Covid-19.
Mr. Tawfiq Husain, CEO, PBA stated, “We are very excited with the transformational impact this project can have on our members’ consumer lending and credit initiation and risk management capabilities. Starting with Low Cost Housing Financing, we hope to be able to put this model to use for other products in consumer lending.”
Mr. Omar Khalid, COO TASDEEQ commented: “TASDEEQ, PACRA and Analytics together bring a diverse array of expertise to the project. This synergy coupled with Creditinfo’s comprehensive global experience will be vital in development of low-cost housing credit scoring and income estimation models for the existing as well as new-to-bank customers utilizing alternative data sources. We are excited to be working with PBA to provide the banks with tools for quick and accurate risk decision making and working towards a more financially inclusive Pakistan.”
Mr. Samuel White, Regional Director, Creditinfo, commented on the partnership: “Our unique global experience will be complemented by the consortium partners’ local market knowledge to develop a robust credit risk and affordability solution in Pakistan. The project will provide PBA members with the required tools to make accurate risk decisions on underserved segments of the population, which is fundamental to increasing access to housing finance. Creditinfo is excited to work with the PBA to support the expansion of financial inclusion in Pakistan and help drive economic activity in the region”.
-ENDS-
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 analytics solutions.
With more than 30 credit bureaus running today, Creditinfo has the largest global presence in the 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 – all with the aim of increasing financial inclusion and generating economic growth by allowing credit access for SMEs and individuals.
For more information, please visit www.creditinfo.com
About TADSDEEQ
TASDEEQ is Pakistan’s first SBP Licensed Credit bureau and a leading credit information services company that leverages data analytics, technology, and industry knowledge to enable financial and non-financial institutions achieve their strategic goals with minimizing their credit risk and help consumers secure their future.
For more information, please visit www.tasdeeq.com
About PACRA
PACRA is, transforming both the rating business and the industry in line with the best practices. Today PACRA has more than 450 opinions outstanding and covering 60+ sectors and sub-sectors of economy.
Since inception, PACRA has over 8,000 rating opinion a testament of PACRA’s expertise, exceptional command, market leadership, and the confidence reposed in its opinions. PACRA rates more than 40% of KSE-100 index companies and 25% of the private sector debt, translating into a rating opinion on every 4th Rupee of debt raised in Pakistan.
The same trust and confidence have also been reposed by foreign regulators in PACRA’s ability and expertise as a CRA. PACRA has entered into a Technical Collaboration Agreements for the formation and operations of CRAs in Bangladesh (National Credit Ratings) and Sri Lanka (Lanka Rating Agency).
For more information, please visit www.pacra.com
About APL
Analytics (branded as Tenx.ai in North America) is a leading Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, Big Data Analytics and Data Sciences solutions provider. Having customers in the United States, Middle East and Pakistan, the company has accomplished a proven track record of successfully delivering high impact and complex projects.
For more information, please visit www.analytics.com.pk
About PBA
Pakistan Banks’ Association is a private limited company incorporated under the Companies Act 1913, (now the Companies Act 2017). The principal activity of the Association is to promote, advance and protect rights, privileges and interests of member banks/ financial institutions. Currently, it has 44 members on all Pakistan basis.
For more information, please visit www.pakistanbanks.org.pk
Media Contacts:
Matt Silver
Babel PR for Creditinfo
T: +44 (0)207 199 3977
Hrefna Ösp appointed new CEO of Creditinfo Iceland
Press Release
LONDON, UK, 23rd September, 2021
Hrefna Ösp Sigfinnsdóttir has been appointed as the new CEO of Creditinfo Iceland. She previously held the position of Managing Director of Asset Management and Brokerage at Landsbankinn. She has over 27 years of experience in the finance industry and will bring her wealth of knowledge and expertise to Creditinfo Iceland and the company at large.
‘We warmly welcome Hrefna Ösp to work and we are very happy to have her join us. Hrefna has extensive experience and a clear vision of the functioning of financial markets, which will be a major driver in moving Creditinfo’s journey forward. Hrefna joins a team of highly motivated staff who are also excited to have her on board’ says Paul Randall, CEO of Creditinfo Group.
“I am especially excited to join Creditinfo. I have followed the company since its establishment and have been a loyal customer. I know that Creditinfo has a very strong team that provides excellent service with powerful solutions. It is exciting to become part of an international ecosystem such as Creditinfo Group which is widespread throughout four continents, I foresee many growth opportunities for me as a professional and Creditinfo Iceland as a team. I am especially keen to further develop and provide solutions the market needs, such as open banking and increased demand for knowledge of customers and the origin of capital” says Hrefna Ösp.
Hrefna holds a Degree in Business Administration from the University of Iceland and a certification exam in securities trading.
She resigned from Landsbankinn this autumn after having been there since 2010. Before that, she worked as a fund manager at Arev Securities Company from 2007. She also worked as the Director of the Listing Division and as an expert on the same at the Iceland Stock Exchange from 1998-2006. Hrefna previously worked as the Director of Personal Services at Fjárvangur and was also an employee of the Central Bank of Iceland’s Monetary Policy Department.
Hrefna has also served on the boards of several companies both in Iceland and abroad and is also one of the founding members of IcelandSIF, an independent forum for discussion and education on responsible and sustainable investments.
The Creditinfo Team welcomes Hrefna and is looking forward to start collaborating with her.
PR contacts:
Caterina Ponsicchi,
Marketing Director,
Analysis of the Lithuanian construction sector
Financial and performance indicators in the construction sector reveal positive rather than negative trends. The boom in real estate emerging in the time of the pandemic has remarkably boosted the sectoral activity (during the first 6 months of this year alone the volume of constructions works grew by almost one fifth) and positively reflected in performance indicators of most of the companies. Sectoral earnings have been rapidly growing both on the domestic and foreign markets. After discounting the impact of seasonality and working days abroad, the volume of construction works is an increase of 21.5% year-on-year. The number of construction companies have been mushrooming, accounting for an increase by a third during the second quarter of this year compared to the previous year.
Financial statements filed by construction companies show that the number of construction companies in Lithuania in 2021 has grown by additional 531 from 15,784 to 16,316 (an increase of 3.4%) year-on-year. A very similar pace of growth (4.1%) was observed in the average corporate earnings (from EUR 809,994 to EUR 842,872). In terms of the staffing level, though, it has decreased slightly from 102,072 to 101,833. Despite a favorable situation, managers of construction companies are very cautious about the growth in the number of staff due to higher labour and other construction costs. Due to a more pessimistic mood in the sector, during summer this indicator started to decrease.
Another important positive factor is the decreasing number of debts and their aggregate values. For instance, during pre-pandemic August 2019 the number of corporate debts in construction industry stood at 12,336, with their aggregate value of EUR 128.7 mln. At the same period in 2020 the number of corporate debts stood at 11,539 compared against a reduced value of debt of EUR 94.3 mln. Although at the end of last August the number of corporate debts in the construction industry grew once again to 12,055, the aggregate debt value accounts for EUR 96.6 mln.
Some positive trends may be seen in the solvency of the construction industry. For instance, a year ago 23% of companies in this sector belonged to the high or highest group of bankruptcy risk, whereas this year the number of such companies dropped to 20%. In terms of delayed payments, some improvement may be observed too: last year the number of companies within the group of high and highest risk of delayed payments accounted for 47%, compared against 37% this year.
A number of construction companies going bankrupt has been decreasing steadily. In 2017-2020 the number of bankruptcies dropped from 366 to 163, whereas the updated statistics for this year give a solid ground to expect a further similar decrease in the number of reported bankruptcies.
Despite the reported drop in earnings in 2020 from 10% to 4% in comparison to 2019, other performance indicators in the construction industry have improved. For instance, the corporate sales median increased by 16% (from EUR 143,155 to EUR 166,133), the quick ratio has grown from 1.86 to 1.95, while the profit margin before tax increased from 1.25 to 1.35. The equity ratio has improved from 43.83 to 46.23, the accounts payable turnover decreased from 134 days to 128 days, whereas the accounts receivable turnover shortened from 57 to 51 day. EBITDA grew from 9.1 to 12.3%.
Jekaterina Rojaka,
Head of Business Development and Strategy, Creditinfo Lithuania
Creditinfo launches SME blended scorecard in Kenya
Credit information leader launches pan-African SME initiative, ahead of global rollout
LONDON, UK, 21st July 2021 – Creditinfo Group, the leading global credit information and decision analytics provider, is today announcing the launch of a scorecard solution tailored for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through its unique approach to data and algorithms, this scorecard will help financial institutions improve their credit assessment and facilitate financing to the SME market, which has typically been less able to access finance.
Creditinfo, recognizing the importance of SME risk assessment across the world is aiming to roll out a global solution to address this challenge. The company will first launch the SME scorecard in Kenya, ahead of a wider rollout across countries in Africa, and several other key economies across the globe.
The unique modeling approach Creditinfo have developed significantly reduces, and in some cases eliminates, the human effort needed to assess customers’ risk profile based on credit data. It is delivered in a software platform which unifies, streamlines, automates and centralizes the risk evaluation process. Creditinfo’s SME scorecard is considerably stronger at predicting business failure than existing traditional models.
Burak Kilicoglu, Director of Global Markets at Creditinfo, commented, “SMEs drive innovation and push digitalization forward for many people by providing services to underserved segments of the population and creating job opportunities. SME scorecards will accelerate access to finance for the benefit of whole economic ecosystem. At Creditinfo we have access to a wealth of credit bureau data as a starting point, and so are uniquely positioned to offer this solution in global markets.”
Kamau Kunyiha, CEO of Creditinfo CRB Kenya, added, “Kenya is the most dynamic and receptive market for SME lending innovation, demonstrated by the successful adoption of mobile wallets and microloans. We look forward to seeing the economic impact of this new solution as it comes into full effect and we see more capital flowing through the SME economy.”
-ENDS-
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
PR contacts:
Marketing Manager/ PR for East Africa
Phidi Mwatibo
Email: Phidi.mwatibo@creditinfo.com
Increased use of credit bureau data in Lithuania
The use of credit bureau data is growing along with economic activity, although businesses tend to undertake additional precautions
The INTRUM EPR 2021 survey published in June reported on the growing demand for pre-payments against a decreasing trend of conventional risk management measures, such as credit history screening, insurance and factoring.
The current situation in the business sector could benefit from some clarifications and comments. In turbulent and uncertain times – and lockdown could rightly be said as being one of these – entrepreneurs tend to undertake additional safeguards, e.g. pre-payments. However, any quantitative easing measures, such as material support offered in the form of soft credits or subsidies, enabled many businesses to maintain their liquidity at least for some time. This is why the corporate performance results were not as devastating as they were during the Great Recession, when manufacturers importing commodities were forced to allocate all of their funds for pre-payments to their suppliers.
Meanwhile, the statistics demonstrates some late payments to the partners in 2021 in the sector of hospitality industry (by 9 days, from 41 to 50), in transport (from 56 to 62 days), in services (from 38 to 41 days), in processing industry (from 38 to 40 days). In contrast, in the financial operations sector, the payment terms have become shorter.
Quite reasonably, one may wonder what are the reasons behind shorter payment terms – can these be explained by precautions taken by the suppliers or by an improving economic situation?
I would like to draw the attention to the fact that in the times of the pandemic shareholders would recommend public sector representatives tightening payment gaps to enable the business sector to improve liquidity in the private sector. In the private sector the medium-term payment gaps were affected by a more resilient economic structure, as businesses suffering from liquidity shortage made only a fraction of all businesses.
Moreover, account needs to be taken of the fact that as many as 60 percent of companies responding to the INTRUM survey in Lithuania admitted anticipating recession in contrast to economic forecasts showing a clear recovery.
Lithuanian business market is rather optimistic: the economic evaluation index in Lithuania has already reached its pre-pandemic level (116 vs. 110), this indicator was higher only in 2007 on the eve of the Great Recession. In addition, all sectors last May demonstrated a growing confidence index. Commercial confidence index grew by 9 percentage points, while in the service, industry, and construction sectors it grew by 7, 4, and 1 percentage points, respectively. Only the consumer confidence index dropped by 3 percentage points.
In parallel, a rapid growth in the real estate prices and demand is being reported along with the signs of growth in the prices of commodities and inflation. All these factors may signal the approaching peak in an economic cycle, which explains the lingering anxiety about a possible recession due to the phasing-out of economic stimulus measures.
One of the most popular support measures – tax deferrals – are drawing to an end: default interests and tax recovery procedures will not be calculated until 31 August 2021 and for two subsequent months; one may expect to see a more realistic state of business health towards the end of the year.
Nevertheless, the following conclusion has to be drawn as a comment on the use of credit office information systems by the organizations: the number of inquiries recently has been changing along with the economic activity – within the first 5 months the number of inquiries increased by 12 percent compared to 2020 year-on-year, and by as many as 25 percent compared to 2019 year-on-year.
Jekaterina Rojaka,
Head of Business Development and Strategy,
Creditinfo Lithuania.
How to build an impeccable credit history
Within the first days of our lives, we are all issued a birth certificate which becomes the first document of the pile that we are to collect during our lifetime. Birth certificates are followed by passports, then graduation certificates, college or university diplomas. Reaching the age of majority entails, among other things, responsibility not only for one‘s professional career, but also for financial decisions which are reflected in the credit history. In other words, credit history is a yearbook of one‘s financial obligations, which is read by banks, leasing companies or other institutions in order to assign you to the categories of either reliable or less reliable clients and decide whether they are willing to accept you for credit.
No Credit Without Credit History
According to the surveys, more than half of the adult population of Lithuania are active users of credits to finance purchase of the real estate, vehicles, household appliances, furniture, PCs, phones, etc.
To get a credit, you apply to the banks or leasing companies. They first look into your credit history which shows how well you performed our financial obligations in the past, including consistency of timely payments for electricity, telecommunication services or garbage removal, also timely repayment of other credits and any overdue debts.
A good or bad credit history determines whether you will be accepted for credit to buy a new refrigerator instead of an old broken one, whether sellers will agree to sell you a new phone just after signing an agreement on payment in installments over the next two years. If the credit history is sound, you can expect the most favorable conditions and trust of the seller. A poor credit record means that you may have to pay the entire amount at once.
A History of Amounts and Discipline
The credit history reflects two types of information. The first one is an account of financial obligations, credits in the banks, consumer loans from credit institutions or peer-to-peer lending platforms, leasing, etc. Lenders use this information to assess the client‘s budget sufficiency, i.e., the percentage of income spent for servicing the existing debts. The second type of information is the track record of repayment of debts indicating the discipline of making payments for credits, mobile phone, internet, cable TV and other bills.
Banks Favor Positive Rather than Empty Credit History
The staff of the credit bureau is often asked what a good credit history is. One may think that lenders favor those who never had a loan, leasing or credit card, and never delayed payments to service providers, hence their credit history is empty. Yet the lenders‘ approach is different. On the one hand, an empty credit record may indicate that you had no need to borrow or to buy on lease in the past. On the other hand, who is more trustworthy: a client who repaid his lease or loan in time, or a person who never had any financial obligations? A survey conducted by “Mano Creditinfo“ revealed that banks tend to be more favorable towards clients who had financial obligations in the past as they are more predictable.
Financial institutions tend to trust clients with good credit history and offer them better conditions, such as a lower down payment, lower interest rate and more flexible repayment terms. For instance, Swedbank‘s Institute of Finances earlier advertised that good credit history may save up to several thousand euros in interest on home loans. Good credit history will save you up to EUR 500 on a loan for a EUR 5,000 worth car, or up to EUR 1,700 on a EUR 10,000 worth car lease.
Can You Fix a Bad Credit History?
Yes, you can, but it will take time and effort. There are several factors that determine a bad credit history, including high financial obligations, excessive and unreasonable borrowing, borrowing to service outstanding debts, delayed payments and other. If your credit history contains any such events, you have to brace yourself for a hard time, as cosmetic adjustments will not erase or eliminate them. If you tend to assume too many financial obligations, you will have to reduce their number and curb your appetite for borrowing for some time at least. If you have any overdue payments, you are recommended to make the payments as soon as possible and never delay them again.
Financial institutions usually analyze the credit history of the recent 2 or 3 years, and the negative impact of the sins of the past gradually fades away over time. Thus, if you have a poor credit history and decide to change your approach towards your financial obligations today, financial institutions may still have questions about your past financial behaviour for a couple more years to come.
Mistakes to be Avoided
Information about the financial relations and obligations will accompany you throughout your entire life telling a story of either a high financial discipline or lack of it. If you decide to borrow, you must carefully assess your ability to cover the debt and think about the ways to ensure the repayment even if you lose your income. Negative records appear in your credit history very quickly, within a month from the day the payment was due. Erasing this record from your credit history will take years, though.
Aurimas Kačinskas,
CEO – Creditinfo Lietuva.
KYC: How compliance can improve business performance – post event summary
Know Your Customer (KYC) is not just a set of regulations to comply with. With the right data, processes, and technology, it can be a valuable tool to understand our customers better and thus be able to support them throughout their challenges, while at the same time shielding business owners from unnecessary risk. We wanted to delve a little deeper into this issue and so hosted a webinar with leading experts on the regulatory environment and financial crime to delve into the topic. Our panel of experts discussed what organizations need to do to de-risk their operations and how they can set themselves up for future success.
Our expert panel was made up of Graham Barrow, Director and Presenter of the Dark Money Files podcast, Viljar Kähari, Co-founder of PWC Legal Estonia and Gandolfo Iacono, CEO of LexisNexis Russia CIS & Eastern Europe.
Chaired by our Director of Global Markets, Brynja Baldursdóttir, the webinar drew in over 500 registrants and 300 attendees from 33 different countries, all eager to better understand the opportunities compliance technologies can bring to a business.
Brynja began the session by explaining that KYC is not just a box ticking exercise, it is a necessity for better business in 2021. The key thing to consider is that KYC is all about trust.
Dark Money
To begin, Graham contextualized the important role that KYC plays in protecting the financial system from ‘dark money’. Dark money, “which is any money that enters the financial system for which you cannot show for certain where it comes from”, has real victims that do not show up on paper. Dark money must come at a cost to somebody. Better KYC processes are not just protecting customers and businesses, it also protects taxpayers in corrupt countries and potential victims of money laundering all over the world.
Part of the issue with stopping or at least resisting the flow of dark money according to Viljar Kähari, is that “banks interpret KYC requirements very differently. It seems that client onboarding and monitoring processes are sometimes much more important than actually understanding a client’s business and monitoring transactions.” This alludes to what Graham believes the larger problem to be, that, “there really is a big difference between banks being compliant in terms of the anti-financial crime requirements, and stopping dirty money entering the system.”
Understand your customer
To shift from just being compliant with regulations to stopping financial crime with compliance we must progress from Knowing Your Customer to ‘Understanding Your Customer’ (UYC), a phrase Graham coined during the discussion. He commented that this is “because if people are intent on laundering money, they will provide beautiful documentation to get into the financial institution, but that documentation will need to be lies.” If we can go beyond knowing our customer to understanding them, then we can see through even the best lies. “Because if you force people and criminals to lie when they create the accounts documentation, you then have good documentation to monitor the downstream transactions. And that is the control. It is getting them to say in detail what they want you to hear and then monitor in detail what they actually do. It’s the difference between those two things, which is your control.”
Data, data, data
Our panelists agreed that the bridge between KYC and ‘UYC’ is data. Graham commented that “the ability to take KYC data, and feed it into your transaction monitoring system intelligently, is probably the single most important thing we can do. But we must sell one idea to all our customers. The idea that KYC is not an ordeal we have to put the customer through. It is the most important thing we can do to protect them.”
There are barriers that compliance teams need to break through to get to this next level of KYC. Gandolfo says, “the issue is that we see compliance or AML as a cost centre”. Compliance departments need to be seen as an asset hat needs serious data and software,” and many managers are not aware of this. Managers need to see the value that effective compliance brings in potential fines avoided. Viljar concurred, “compliance departments are overloaded. They do not have the resources they need; they do not have access to different databases.”
Perception
The perception of compliance needs to change for organizations to allocate the resources teams need to resist the flow of ‘dark money’. Viljar stated that “changing the mindset of compliance officers from an inspector to a business advisor is more important and necessary today. Because we cannot assume that all clients are criminals unless they can prove otherwise. It is the common understanding now because you need to provide a massive amount of information and documentation to show that you are getting your money legally. And that is why I’m thinking that the compliance function must become more proactive at finding practical solutions rather than just saying ‘that this work cannot be done.’”
To make this organizational culture shift it will take time, but our panel agreed that a realistic alternative is to outsource KYC and AML, provided there is not a “homogenization of risk appetite”. Viljar noted that when a company does not have access to a public register, “there are several service providers who can easily help to solve this problem. Just the banks and other regulated financial institutions must trust service providers and user services.”
Change of mindset
Summarizing the event Brynja rounded up the discussion by pointing out that the most important takeaway from the webinar is that as an industry, we need to start changing our mindset from knowing our customer, to understanding our customer. We need to vastly improve international cooperation in terms of legislation and regulation, and we can refine processes around KYC in terms of increasing shared services, using data and technology in a smarter manner which ultimately should make sure that we as businesses make our processes reflect our appetite for risk. It is time to make the switch from simply knowing, to understanding our customers.
Learn more
This virtual event was a huge success from our perspective which gathered an incredibly engaged audience. Thank you so much for all your brilliant questions – our panel enjoyed the lively debate!
If you would like to re-watch the session, or if you were unable to attend, please use this link to learn about the benefits KYC compliance can bring to your business.
Creditinfo Group becomes sole owner of International Bureau of Credit Histories in Ukraine
Creditinfo is investing in IBCH to improve its credit information sharing system
KYIV, UKRAINE, May 24, 2021 – Creditinfo Group, the leading global credit information and fintech services provider, today announces that it has become the sole owner of Ukraine’s International Bureau of Credit Histories (IBCH). Creditinfo aims to improve access to financial services for Ukrainians and support financial institutions with a full suite of best-in-class credit risk management tools.
Established in 2006, IBCH is one of three main credit bureaus in Ukraine. It offers a portfolio of products and solutions for credit risk management, expanding business opportunities, preventing fraud risks and NPL management improvement. Also, IBCH gives access to credit histories for individuals and legal entities.
“This investment shows Creditinfo’s renewed commitment to both the IBCH and Ukrainian financial market overall,” commented Seth Marks, Managing Director, Creditinfo Central & Eastern Europe. “We have been a partner of IBCH since launching in Ukraine. We have also established our credentials in more than 30 countries, also in the region, opening bureaus in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Baltics. We hope that this new investment and our wealth of international experience will help us further entrench IBCH and the Creditinfo brand in the Ukrainian financial services space as we partner with lenders to drive financial access through the use of best practices in credit risk management and data protection. Ukraine is an ever-evolving and developing market with considerable growth potential. We are eager to play a role in aiding this growth.”
Kateryna Danylchencko, IBCH General Manager, added, “this is a new important step forward for IBCH. Our team is energised by the opportunity to be a part of Creditinfo, and we hope to utilise the company’s expertise to assist us in the introduction of new products and services.”
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 over 30 credit bureaus running today, Creditinfo has the most considerable global presence in the 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:
Caterina Ponsicchi
Group Marketing Director
