In the early 1960s, Simon Ramo had a vision of a cashless society made possible by information and technology. This vision led to the creation of our business in North America. Ramo believed information could change the way people lived. Today, we know this to be true and continually see the ways data and technology can create enormous good in the lives of millions of consumers. While much has changed since the 1960s, Ramo’s vision holds true and continues to fuel the way we work at Experian. These principles have put consumers at the center of our business, which has forced us to think outside the box and do things differently. Let me give you an example. Until 2019, consumers had never been able to contribute information directly to their credit report. When we launched Experian Boost, we fundamentally changed the game. We put consumers in the driver’s seat and empowered them to contribute their on-time bill payments directly to their Experian credit report. By doing so, we’ve helped millions of consumers instantly improve their FICO® Score. This was a game changing move that is making a tangible difference for consumers. In fact, Experian Boost users have accessed more than $1.7 billion in credit due to improved credit scores. While we are proud of what we continue to accomplish with Experian Boost, we know financial inclusion depends on all of us doing more. On all of us doing things differently. We recently released new research in partnership with Oliver Wyman which shows 106 million Americans, or 42% of the adult population, lack access to mainstream credit because they are credit invisible, unscoreable or have a subprime credit score. Communities of color are more likely to lack access to mainstream credit, with 28% of Black and 26% of Hispanic consumers unscoreable or invisible, which is perpetuating historic disadvantage. While we have made a lot of progress in recent years by incorporating new data in decisions, as an industry, we can and must do better to ensure all consumers have access to fair and affordable credit. The old way of doing things, the old tools, will not work to ensure more consumers can access the financial services they need when they need them. The score models historically used by lenders are leaving nearly 50 million Americans behind. We need better data and better technology to help more consumers. When advanced analytics and machine learning are combined with expanded data sets as they are with Experian’s Lift Premium™ score, 96% of the population can be scored, including an estimated 65% credit invisibles and the entire conventionally unscoreable population. This is significantly greater than the 81% of consumers that can be scored by conventional scores today. Scoring 100% of Americans and expanding fair access to credit to creditworthy consumers is our goal. This is an exciting time as we are nearing a point where we can say, no matter who you are, where you live or what part of your financial journey you’re on, we can score you and help you access the financial services you need. We can’t do it on our own. Financial inclusion depends on industry adoption of these new tools and insights. As we begin a new year, I believe the financial services industry is at an inflection point. And I am hopeful. I think we can all agree it’s time for a new way of doing things and today we have the tools available to make it happen.
It’s a privilege to be recognized for a cause that’s important to so many of us at Experian. I am honored to be awarded a bronze Stevie® Award in the “Women Helping Women – Business” category for supporting women in Decision Analytics (DA) and overseeing our employee resource groups across DA. The award specifically calls out our long-standing Accelerated Development Program (ADP), which identifies and mentors women business leaders within our organization The Stevie Award trophy is one of the world's most coveted business prizes, representing more than 60 countries. The awards have been given to small, medium and large businesses for an array of categories since 2002. In 2018, HR Director Richard Teague and I helped launch ADP, which has identified 44 mid-career, high-potential women on the Global Decision Analytics team in a leadership training program. Around half of the women who participate have been promoted within two years. The ADP program also complements our DEI initiatives, which includes our five employee resource groups that have played a valuable connecting and our engagement our team members during both the pandemic and personal challenges. If you would like to find out more about any of the GDA DEI networks, including how you can get involved, please contact the relevant network lead: Mental Health – Chris Fletcher Disability and Neurodiversity – David Bernard LGBTQ+ – David Gallihawk Gender Network – Marika Vilen or Jen Cosgrove Race and Ethnicity – Shri Santhanam
An industry’s greatest innovators are successful not only because they deliver superior products in the present, but also – and perhaps more importantly – because they continuously solidify their place in the future through a drive to create a better tomorrow that encourages modernization and disruption. With this approach, Experian has been named Most Innovative Company of the Year in the 2021 11th Annual Best in Biz Awards. Over 700 companies entered, and winners of this prestigious honor were chosen by a small group of prominent editors and reporters from top-tier publications like Associated Press, Forbes, CNET, and Wall Street Journal. In their day-to-day reporting, these judges hear about and cover companies which are on the forefront of innovation. Over the last year, Experian has focused on helping consumers and financial institutions with a wide range of challenges. This includes opening up credit to underserved communities, adapting to changing consumer expectations, addressing the growing threat from fraud, and becoming a more agile technology provider in an ever-changing market. We are truly honored to be recognized as Most Innovative Company of the Year by the Best in Biz Awards. Experian embraces a culture of discovery that enables us to grow and evolve while remaining at the forefront of innovation. Of course, the key is to never stop questioning, evolving, and innovating. And we won’t.
Today, we stand at the forefront of a digital revolution that is reshaping the financial services industry. And, against this backdrop, financial institutions are at vastly different levels of maturity; the world’s biggest banks are managing large-scale infrastructure migrations and making significant investments in AI while regional banks and credit unions are putting plans in place for modernization strategies, and fintechs are purpose-built and cloud native. To explore this more, I recently had the privilege of attending the annual Reuters NEXT live event in New York City. The event gathers globally recognized leaders across business, finance, technology, and government to tackle some of today’s most pressing issues. On the World Stage, I joined Del Irani, a talented anchor and broadcast journalist, to discuss the future of lending and the pivotal role of data and AI in building a more inclusive financial system. Improving financial access Our discussion highlighted the lack of access to traditional financial systems, and the impact it has on nearly 100 million people in North America alone. Globally, the problem affects over one billion people. These people, who are credit invisible, unscoreable, or have subprime credit scores, are unable to secure everyday financial products that many of us take for granted. What many don’t realize is, this is not a fringe subset of the population. Most of us, myself included, know someone who has faced the challenges of financial exclusion. Everyday Americans, including young people who are just starting out, new immigrants and people from diverse communities, often lack access to mainstream financial products. We discussed how traditional lending has a limited view of a consumer. Like looking through a keyhole, the lender’s understanding of the person in view is often incomplete and obstructed. However, with expanded data, technology, and advanced analytics, there is an opportunity to better understand the whole person, and as a result have a more inclusive financial system. At Experian, we have a unique ability to connect the power of traditional credit with alternative data, bringing a more holistic understanding of consumers and their behaviors. We are dedicated to leveraging our rich history in data and our expertise in technology to create the future of credit and ultimately bring financial power to everyone. The future of lending After spending two days with over 700 industry leaders from around the world, one thing is abundantly clear: much like the early days of the internet, today, we are at the cutting-edge of a technical revolution. Reflecting on my time at Reuters NEXT, I am particularly excited by the collective commitment to drive innovative, and smarter ways of working. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of how data and technology can transform financial services, and Experian is positioned to play a significant role. As we look to the future, I am excited about the ways we will create new opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.
The advertising ecosystem has seen significant transformation over the past few years, with increased privacy regulation, changes in available signals, and the rise of channels like connected TV and retail media. These changes are impacting the way that consumers interact with brands and how brands understand and continue to deliver relevant messages to consumers with precision. Experian has been helping marketers navigate these changes, and as a result, our marketing data and identity solutions underpin much of today’s advertising industry. We’re committed to empowering marketers and agencies to understand and reach their target audiences, across all channels. Today, we are excited to announce our acquisition of Audigent—a leading data and activation platform in the advertising industry. With Audigent’s combination of first-party publisher data, inventory and deep supply-side distribution relationships, publishers, big and small, can empower marketers to better understand their customers, expand the reach of their target audiences and activate those audiences across the most impactful inventory. I am excited to bring together Audigent’s supply-side network as a natural extension to our existing demand-side capabilities. Audigent’s ability to combine inventory with targeted audiences using first-party, third-party and contextual signals provides the best of all worlds, allowing marketers to deliver campaigns centered on consumer choices, preferences, and behaviors. The addition of Audigent further strengthens our strategy to be the premier independent provider of marketing data and identity, ultimately creating more relevant experiences for consumers. To learn more about Experian and Audigent, visit https://www.experian.com/marketing/ and https://audigent.com/.
When it comes to cybercriminals and threat vectors, we need to expect the unexpected. Experian’s 12th annual Data Breach Industry Forecast highlights several potential trends for 2025, with AI playing a central role. This year has already seen more data breaches and impacted consumers than 2023, indicating that global data breaches are not slowing down. Some things to watch out for next year includes the potential for more internal fraud. As companies train employees on AI, there is a growing risk that some will misuse their knowledge for internal theft and sourcing sensitive information. Another trend may be cyberattackers targeting large data centers, with the growth of generative AI introducing power as a new attack vector. It’s reported that a single ChatGPT query uses significantly more electricity than a standard Google search, making data centers and cloud infrastructure vulnerable, especially in countries with varying security standards. We expect AI-related attacks to dominate the headlines next year and investments in cybersecurity will increase to tackle this emerging threat, as hackers leverage AI for phishing, password cracking, malware, and deepfakes. Jim Steven, Head of Crisis and Data Response Services at Experian Global Data Breach Resolution in the UK, anticipates that global data breaches will persist at their current rate next year. He notes that ransomware attacks are likely to become even more sophisticated with the integration of AI. Additionally, Steven predicts that threat actors will escalate their tactics to achieve greater rewards, and the misuse of consumer data to damage reputations will increase in 2025. To access the complimentary report, click here.