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As part of Experian’s commitment to the value of Employee Resource Groups (ERG), we recently hosted the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) ERG Leadership Symposium, ERGs Driving Change at our Costa Mesa headquarters. ERGs are a proven strategy for organizations to advance a diverse and inclusive company culture. At Experian, we believe the culture of inclusion also cultivates and advances innovation with the added diversity perspective that strengthens the community of professionals and ideas within the company. We were proud to host the 13th ERG one-day training program that was organized by the NAAAP to help companies and employees advance their ERG experience and learn how ERGs are change agents to enhance productivity and grow professional networks in the corporate setting. Speakers represented companies leading their industry, such as Bank of the West, Macy’s, Anheuser-Busch, Google, Facebook, UPS, Northrop Grumman, Boston Scientific, and many more, including Experian. The symposium this year featured numerous ERG thought leaders sharing their insights across a variety of sessions and panels, including; Best Practices in Demonstrating Value, Creating Connections through ERG Leadership, What’s Next Action Plans for Your ERG, among others. Caption: Hiq Lee, President, Business Information Services for Experian, shared insights as a panelist for The Crucial Executive Role in Driving Change session. She was joined by Judy Ting, SVP, Pacific Rim Region Manager, Bank of the West, and DeAnne Aussem, Managing Director & Founder of U.S. Leadership Coaching Center of Excellence, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLC. The panel was moderated by Farzana Nayani, NAAAP ERG Architect. All speakers provided valuable takeaways for the professionals in attendance to motivate their organizations to positively impact their company with the diversity amongst its workforce and implement strategies to leverage the power of inclusion. Specifically, the hundred-plus attendees learned more about how Employee Resource Groups and Business Resource Groups are change agents for diversity, inclusion, engagement, productivity, and connection-building within organizational settings. Justin Hastings, former Chief Human Resources Officer for Experian North America, welcomed the ERG Leadership Symposium attendees with his introductory remarks, as he shared Experian’s perspective on inclusion leading to innovation. Therefore, we asked him some questions to share his insights with us on Experian’s ERGs. 1. How is Experian creating a better tomorrow? Hastings: The consumer is at the heart of everything we do. Our product innovation is geared towards giving consumers more control over how their data can enrich their lives. Experian Boost is a perfect example of this coming to life. Inclusion underpins our ability to innovate. The more we encourage a culture where everyone’s creativity is valued, the more we are able to innovate for consumers. Our ERGs play an important role in promoting diversity, and creating an environment where all our Experian people can bring their whole selves to work and be creative. 2. What role does The Power of YOU have in Employee Resource Groups? Hastings: We created a workplace environment where everyone is comfortable bringing their whole self to work, regardless of differences or backgrounds. We call this The Power of YOU, which creates an environment for employees to be their true selves. We advance our company culture by not only respecting the differences amongst Experian colleagues, but actively celebrating them with and through our ERGs. 3. What impact does the Employee Resource Groups have on Experian? Hastings: At Experian, inclusion is vital to the success of the company. Our ERGs provide us with a platform to be a more innovative business. Our ERGs now have around 1,000 employees actively involved across the eight current groups. They have helped create greater understanding of different cultures that are represented in our company, and they have also underpinned our recruiting efforts across diverse talent pools. This has helped us to keep evolving our employee base to be increasingly representative of the communities in which we operate, and the consumers we ultimately serve. Learn more about Experian’s Employee Resource Groups by visiting: https://www.experian.com/corporate/power-of-you.html  Learn more about the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) by visiting: https://www.naaap.org/   All photos taken by Nhan T. Nguyen.

FY19 proved to be a great year for Experian – one of our best ever.  We just announced results, with organic revenue growth of 9%.  But that is only part of our story. Behind the company’s success is a strategy that puts consumers first. We have looked to respond to the challenge of financial exclusion around the world, by using data and innovation to bring more people into the mainstream financial system. And we have responded to rapid digitisation of the world by helping organisations of all shapes and sizes to respond and adapt, all through the power of data. Fintech and digital disruption have revolutionised the way people engage with their finances. At Experian we help to speed up applications for credit, check for fraudulent impersonators and improve access to credit at fair and affordable rates. During the course of this financial year, we delivered some major and exciting milestones in our markets: In North America, we launched Experian Boost, an industry-first, game changing offer that is reshaping the credit landscape by putting individuals in control of their credit score. In the UK, we are introducing a range of new innovations, Ascend, Credit 3D and Experian One, which deploy our advanced analytics, predictive data and SaaS-based platforms. We were the first in our industry to be granted approval to supply Open Banking and PSD2 services by the Financial Conduct Authority and we have rolled out new services which help to assess whether loans are affordable. In Asia Pacific, we are building out our data Marketplaces with our strategic investment and partnerships with C88 in Indonesia and Jirnexu in Malaysia. This move will help to increase levels of financial inclusion in the region by improving matching to eligible credit products. In South Africa, we agreed to the acquisition of Compuscan, which will mean we are better positioned to serve the people and businesses of Africa and be an enabler of growth in consumer and business credit, identity management and financial inclusion. To sum up, the financial performance is strong.  Our commitment to using data and analytics to help consumers, businesses and society at large is even stronger.

For the past several years, Experian has been on a journey to help drive financial inclusion for millions of people around the world. This has required significant changes in how we operate, who we partner with, and the products and solutions we offer —and with those changes comes a renewed sense of purpose. What we do and the actions we take have the potential to improve lives.  We are actively seeking out unresolved problems and creating products and technologies that will help transform the way businesses operate and consumers thrive in today’s society. But we know we can’t do it alone. That’s why over the last year, we have built out an entire team of account executives and other support staff that are fully dedicated to developing and supporting partnerships with leading fintech companies. We’ve made significant strides that will help us pave the way for the next generation of lending, while improving the financial health of more people around the world. Earlier this week, I attended the FinovateSpring conference in San Francisco to speak with fintechs and financial institutions about ways to put financial health at the center of an organization’s plans to build trust, reach new customers and ultimately grow business. We are developing platforms that are designed to play to the strengths of fintechs and disrupt the industry. In the past, we have looked at unresolved problems and asked ‘why?’ Today, with our fintech partners, we look at potential solutions to these unresolved challenges and say, ‘why not.’ As part of our concentration on fintech, Experian has made significant investments in alternative data, such as the game-changing Experian Boost platform, which was launched just two months ago and is already reshaping the way consumers gain access to credit. Since we launched Experian Boost, consumers across America have instantly increased their credit score by sharing their bill payment history for things like utilities, mobile phones and cable TV payments – payments which had never been factored into a credit score before. And, yes, this platform came to fruition as a result of a fintech partnership. We have partnered with fintechs in other powerful ways, too. Our new Ascend Analytical Sandbox – a first-of-its-kind data and analytics platform – gives companies instant access to more than 17 years of depersonalized credit data on more than 220 million U.S. consumers. This creates better opportunities for consumers by allowing our clients to provide more tailored solutions. It’s a great example of the power of analytics and we’re very proud of it. During our time at Finovate, we were able to engage in meaningful conversations with fintech leaders who were united in our goal of helping more consumers access the financial services they need. We’re more inspired than ever before to continue to build and explore strategic partnerships that will ultimately improve the lives of American consumers.