Small businesses are the backbone of our nation’s economy, generating 44% of the nation’s overall revenue. When they take a hit, we all feel it. But as good neighbors – and frequent patrons – we can find a path toward keeping these small businesses on their feet and reopening their doors as soon as possible. At Experian, our obligation is to fight for small businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19. Main Street America reported in April that “COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on small businesses’ revenue…Approximately 35.7 million Americans employed by small businesses are at risk of unemployment as result of the COVID-19 crisis.” That is why we moved quickly to support the signing of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), providing relief to Americans through expanded unemployment coverage and by distributing grants and loans to small businesses. Acknowledging the unprecedented financial difficulties many are facing, lenders have established relief options for customers unable to make scheduled payments. In an effort to safeguard consumers against potential delinquency and protect credit, the CARES Act calls for creditors to adjust reporting systems for those taking advantage of these relief options. Simply put, your small business’s credit score shouldn’t be your biggest concern these days, and the CARES Act works to ensure that. We know there’s more work to be done to help small businesses navigate these challenging times. We’ve outlined the following steps to keep your business’s credit on track during the pandemic, taking advantage of resources and services we recently launched: Call Your Lender: If a customer or small business is unable to pay a bill, the most critical action they can take is to call their lender and inquire about available assistance programs. If consumers are able to get an accommodation, they can stop a missed payment from negatively impacting their credit. Business Resources Website: Experian has launched a website to help businesses prepare to manage increased attacks, push toward digital banking and understand regulatory changes as businesses find their footing in this evolving financial services landscape. Credit Report Access for All: Experian is offering all consumers access to a free credit report, FICO score and credit monitoring through our CreditWorks product, which also provides access to Experian Boost, a financial tool that has helped more than 2 million consumers increase their credit score to date. This is in addition to the free weekly credit score we are offering in coordination with our peers through annualcrediteport.com. COVID-19 U.S. Business Risk Index: Experian has launched a new service to help lenders and government organizations understand how to make lending options available to the business segments that need it most. This, in turn, directly helps small businesses gain access to capital they need. The public tool includes a risk simulator broken down by state to keep business owners updated on how COVID-19 is affecting specific industries in a particular region. As a nation, we have learned many lessons from the 2008 financial crisis. One vital lesson that sticks with us at Experian is that we’re better at tackling challenges as a collective financial industry, with transparency and a lending hand. At Experian, we’re committed to helping small businesses land back on their feet, and we’ll be there when the backbone of our economy needs additional support down the road.
To combat a growing threat that’s expected to drive $48 billion in annual online payment fraud losses by 20231, Experian® has announced the launch of Sure Profile™. Experian is the first company with an offering to combat synthetic identity fraud that is integrated into the credit profile with market-leading assurance. We are proud to be the first in our industry to actually put “skin-in-the-game” by sharing in fraud losses with our clients if the losses occur on assured profiles. Experian’s new offering validates consumer identities, detects profiles that have an increased risk for synthetic identity fraud and helps cover losses resulting from synthetic identity fraud for assured profiles. Leveraging the capabilities of the Experian Ascend Identity Platform™, Sure Profile utilizes Experian’s industry-leading data assets and data quality to drive advanced analytics that set a higher level of protection for lenders. Powered by newly developed machine learning and AI models, Sure Profile offers lenders a streamlined approach to define and detect synthetic identities early in the originations process. Experian’s Sure Profile differentiates between real people and potentially risky applicants, so lenders can confidently increase application approvals with less risk. We expect to authenticate most credit applications through Sure Profile. In the cases where the identity can’t be assured, the company will deliver additional fraud risk indicators, so that lenders can take the right next steps to verify the potential borrower’s identity and prevent fraud. To date, detecting synthetic identities has been a significant challenge for lenders because there’s not an industry standard or a single definition that can be used to establish the legitimacy of an identity. In addition, understanding the financial impact of synthetics has been difficult for lenders as losses tied to synthetic identity fraud are typically categorized as defaults or “bad debt.” With Sure Profile, we are reinforcing our position as a leader by creating a standard set of criteria to define a synthetic identity. Experian has always been a leader in combatting fraud, and with Sure Profile, we’re proud to deliver an industry-first fraud offering integrated into the credit profile that mitigates lender losses while protecting millions of consumers’ identities. Our investments in innovation, AI and machine learning and our data quality are enabling us to lead the way in identity protection and help protect consumers and lenders alike.
We are delighted to have announced our proposed acquisition of a 60% stake in Arvato Financial Solutions Risk Management division. Bringing together Experian’s global data expertise with AFS Risk Management’s market and sector experience will create a uniquely innovative organisation that can offer the best of both companies to the Germany, Austria & Switzerland (DACH) region. For us in Experian EMEA this is an incredibly exciting moment. Germany is Europe’s economic powerhouse and there is a huge opportunity to bring our Decisioning and Analytics expertise and products like Ascend Analytics on Demand to benefit existing and new clients of both organisations. Not only that, we have the privilege to work with a well-respected, established organisation like AFS Risk Management, with its deep focus on customer service, high-quality products, and solutions tailored for key industries like e-commerce, telecoms and insurance; and with the Bertelsman Group, one of Europe’s leading media groups. Following completion, our intention is to make a new, joint entity, made up of the best of Experian and AFS Risk Management, delivering broad coverage and a strong product and innovation roadmap across the DACH region. Clients of both organisations will quickly be able to benefit from the strengths each partner brings – as we deliver the best new technologies into the region, enabling them to make better, faster decisions, and ultimately delivering greater access to finance for people across the region. The acquisition now enters the EU’s standard competition review process.
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.