Sydney AUSTRALIA, 3 August 2011 – Experian®, the global information services company, today received approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) to establish a joint venture company, Experian Australia Credit Services Pty Ltd. The new consumer and commercial credit bureau will increase competition in the Australian credit reporting services market by providing consumer and business credit information services to credit providers. It will help lenders assess risk and allocate credit more efficiently, in addition to protecting consumers against over-indebtedness by enabling responsible lending by credit grantors.
“Today’s ACCC decision paves the way for Experian to establish a new credit bureau in the market and introduce valuable competition,” comments Kim Jenkins, Managing Director of Experian Australia and New Zealand. “Experian’s entry to the Australian credit reporting services market will deliver benefits to all credit granting organisations and consumers, encouraging higher levels of innovation, further improving standards and better industry services.
“Our global experience shows that credit information bureaus play an instrumental role in a country’s economic growth as well as safeguarding consumers by enabling credit providers to make responsible lending decisions.
Experian will operate a fully inclusive credit bureau. This means that every authorised credit grantor, such as banks, financial institutions and telecommunications companies, has the opportunity to contract with Experian to share and access data with the bureau, in accordance with legislation.
The joint venture company is formed with six of Australia’s major financial institutions including, ANZ, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), GE Capital, National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac Banking Corporation. Each of these six financial institutions holds a minority stake in the new company and Experian will be responsible for all operations of the credit bureau.
Experian is the world’s leading provider of credit information services and analytics and has extensive experience of working in both comprehensive and negative-only credit reporting environments. This is particularly relevant in light of considerations by the Australian government to move from a negative credit reporting regime to more comprehensive credit reporting. Experian operates consumer bureaus in 16 countries, and commercial bureaus in 12 countries, including some of the largest national databases in the US, Brazil and the UK.
Contact:
Georgia Lennon
Marketing Director
Experian
+612 8907 7218
georgia.lennon@au.experian.com
Liz Kearney
Group Account Director
n2n communications
+61 2 9213 2323
lkearney@n2n.com.au
About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 80 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.
Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2011 was US$4.2 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 41 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.
For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.