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Experian is a company built on purpose. Every day we help people make the most of their data to improve their financial lives. This is what drives us and you can read more about our progress in our inaugural Improving Financial Health report. It is our social mission to improve financial inclusion, because fair and affordable access to credit enhances opportunities in life. While we are proud of our achievements this year, we know there is more to do. Over a third of the global adult population still lack access to basic financial services, while one billion people don’t have official proof of identity. 1.7 billion people are also completely ‘unbanked’ and risk being overlooked by the entire global financial services system. And this problem exists everywhere. More than 63 million people in Brazil have unmanageable debts that are affecting their credit rating. Whereas in the US, 28 million consumers are ‘credit invisible’ and an additional 21 million consumers have “unscorable” credit files, meaning they have what’s considered a thin credit file or limited credit history. Much of this comes down to provision of appropriate education and knowledge around good financial management, alongside the tools and products that can empower people in gaining access to fair, affordable credit. Through our community investment programme, we have provided vital support to communities, which was reflected by our colleagues volunteering nearly 25,000 hours of their time over the last year. This is in addition to an investment of US$15.9m in programmes that support our communities, including enhancing financial literacy with partners in Brazil, the USA and the UK & Ireland. Examples here include financial literacy support for microentrepreneurs through Sebrae in Brazil, Words That Count with the National Literacy Trust and Number Confidence Week with National Numeracy in the UK, alongside partnerships in the USA with the National Urban League, Operation Hope and Saver Life which aim to empower Black Americans through financial education. In addition, our social innovation products reached over 21 million people this year, offering innovative ways to verify identity and to strengthen credit profiles. It is our aim to help everyone have fair access to finance, no one should miss out on the opportunities which can transform lives. As the current inflationary environment adds extra pressure on households around the world, we recognise the significance of the role we can play to help ensure people can get through this period of financial pressure. Our new report outlines the progress we have made and restates our commitment to helping everyone improve their financial health in the future. Please read more in the Improving Financial Health Report.    

We are delighted to celebrate Pride Month this June, and to mark the progress we are making to support our LGBTQ+ colleagues and communities around the world. A few of our milestones this year include: The addition of trans-inclusive healthcare to our UK and U.S. employee benefit packages. Receiving a Silver Award from Stonewall for our commitment to inclusion of LGBTQ people in the workplace. The continued use of our partnerships with Mermaids, Switchboard and Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) to provide resources, offer workshops and support campaigns that raise awareness of the discrimination faced by the community worldwide. Becoming a signatory of the Brazil Corporate Forum for LGBTQA+ companies. Participating in the first diverse talent recruitment fair organised by the Colombian LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Achieving a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in the U.S., and being designated a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality for the fourth consecutive year. Providing a process to assist trans and non-binary consumers with name changes to their Experian credit reports. Throughout the month, employee groups across our regions are hosting events that support our LGBTQ+ employees in their careers, that educate and inform allyship inside our business, and which help accelerate our ambition of delivering tools and services that create better financial health in the community. And yet, while we celebrate, we recognise that the LGBTQ+ community still faces many forms of discrimination around the world. We will continue to look for opportunities to support our Experian colleagues and customers who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, and to listen to those with lived experiences, so that we can better understand the role we can play in creating a better tomorrow and a stronger organisation – for everyone.

Two of Experian’s core values – innovation and financial inclusion – are on full display with Experian Boost™ being selected for Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards, which celebrates the “broadest ideas … that have the potential to affect true systems change.” Experian Boost is a first-of-its-kind service designed to help consumers improve their credit profile and thrive financially. Nearly 9 million people have connected the service to report their on-time utility, telecom, and video streaming service payments. The service tackles inequity and exclusion from the credit economy by enabling consumers to add positive payment history that reinforces their personal financial reliability directly into their Experian credit file, which can potentially boost their credit score instantly. At Experian, we continually focus on expanding credit to underserved communities. Most recently we introduced Experian Go™, a brand-new program that can potentially help the nearly 50 million people in the United States who have a nonexistent or limited credit history. This Fast Company recognition also reflects our purpose and innovative culture focused on creating products and solutions that help consumers thrive, including Experian Boost in the UK and Serasa’s Score Turbo in Brazil. Every day at Experian we are investing in new technologies, talented employees, and innovation to help consumers and our clients maximize every opportunity we have to offer.

With consumers relying more heavily on the digital economy for online shopping, mobile banking, streaming content and other activities, businesses are challenged with recognizing each individual across different devices and channels. The challenge lies with the virtually endless number of touchpoints, attributes and values that can be associated with one’s identity, which is comprised of vast amounts of online and offline, dynamic, multidimensional data. As identities have become more complex, and with the definition of identity constantly evolving, the challenge is now even more pressing. Businesses are applying sophisticated analytics to more accurately identify individuals and create a positive, cohesive customer experience, but it’s critical that they remember: for each consumer – their data and identity are personal. To help companies address consumer recognition, Experian recently unveiled Experian Identity, an integrated approach that incorporates the full breadth of the company’s authoritative data, analytics and technology solutions to help businesses across any industry better connect with their consumers in more personalized, meaningful and secure ways. Experian Identity addresses the need that businesses have to respond to the rapidly evolving identity market with interconnected, scalable technology, products and services that optimize the consumer experience.  Building Consumer Trust  The key to success for businesses is building consumer trust through the effective use of identity. And that starts with securely managing customer data, while ensuring privacy and regulatory compliance. As a person’s identity evolves over time through major life events, such as opening a first credit card, getting a student loan, buying a car or house, receiving hospital care, or securing a line of credit, businesses must adopt a “customer first” mindset that reinforces their brand and delivers a tailored customer experience. That experience is further strengthened when a business incorporates identity-driven decision-making into every brand touchpoint. By providing a seamless and secure experience, businesses can help consumers prevent fraud and mitigate risk (to themselves and their customers), and build a more holistic view of each individual or small business so they can respond with timely, relevant and fair offers that better address their consumers’ needs.The resulting customer journey becomes demonstrably personalized, responsive, and valued. Constant Innovation Required Identity data sets are constantly growing with inputs from new interactions. Many future sources of data have yet to be even conceived or developed. Staying ahead of the identity market curve is vital, and it requires building and continually evolving an enterprise-scale identity solution that interconnects with your own unique data and systems to create attribute-rich profiles of your customers that work across any identity application. That’s Experian Identity. For more information on how Experian Identity helps optimize identity solutions, visit www.experian.com/identity-solutions and click this link to download the Making Identities Personal white paper.

Last year, while still in the grip of the effects of the pandemic, Experian North America continued to reinforce our core purpose and People First approach through creating a workplace culture of belonging, employee wellness and personal and professional growth. It’s especially rewarding that this commitment, along with our financial planning and consumer education resources, were highlighted in this year’s Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For award recognition. For the third year in a row, Experian North America was named to the prestigious national list that honors the “100 Best companies that adapted to massive changes in the workplace by prioritizing employee well-being, inclusion, purpose, listening and care wherever their employees are.” To determine this year’s 100 Best list, Great Place to Work®, America’s largest ongoing annual workforce study, surveyed more than 870,000 employees and gathered data from companies representing more than 6.1 million employees. The survey enables employees to share confidential feedback about their organization’s culture and the employee experience. Great Place to Work cited that “Experian has expanded benefits to include fertility, surrogacy, and adoption coverage and enhanced its higher education financial planning resources. It’s also tackling workplace equity from the very start of the hiring process with an in-house tool called Lingo that identifies gender-biased language in job descriptions.” In addition, “Experian began to hold conferences for employees to discuss their personal struggles during the pandemic. Since then, the company has continued to improve wellness initiatives, while staying committed to flexibility around employee schedules.” “At Experian we’re especially proud of our purpose-driven culture, where all our people play a role in making a positive impact in the day-to-day lives of the consumers, clients and communities we serve. This includes taking care of each other, celebrating our individual differences, and delivering on our purpose to create a better tomorrow for people everywhere,” said Jennifer Schulz, Chief Executive Officer of Experian North America. “This recognition from Fortune reflects the very best Experian offers to all those we help, and I couldn’t be prouder of our people and the work we’re doing.” At Experian, we believe bringing together unique experiences, diverse backgrounds and individual differences creates a dynamic, innovative and inspiring workplace — one reflective of the clients and communities we serve around the globe. This is why it’s such an honor to be recognized alongside other outstanding brands on the Best 100 list that prioritize their employees. This recognition continues the momentum we’ve built in recent months with other industry accolades and awards. In February, Experian North America was named a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality” for the fourth year in a row in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index 2022, receiving a perfect score in the foundation’s evaluation. Last year, Experian North America was named to the Fortune Best Workplaces for Women™ 2021 among large organizations and 100 Best Large Workplaces for Millennials. In addition, we were ranked the #1 Top Workplace in 2021 by the Orange County Register for the second consecutive year.