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There are times in most of our lives where we can't get access to the financial system in a way that we want. Be it for a mortgage, a car, or a business loan. We've all experienced the frustration when you feel you're on the outside of the system and you can’t do the things you want for yourself or your family. At Experian, it's our job to change that. We want to make sure everybody is included and has access to fair and affordable financial products. Financial inclusion is fundamental to our business.  With our focus on increasing access to financial services, improving financial literacy and confidence, and helping people manage their financial lives; we help power people and businesses to create their future. In fact, the United Nations includes access to financial services, such as credit and microfinance, among its Sustainable Development Goals. Access to affordable credit opens the door to opportunities for people to transform their lives – from homes and healthcare to education and entrepreneurship. This has never been more important than it is today. Creating a Campaign to Drive Financial Health Worldwide As the pandemic took hold in 2020, we stepped in with data and analytics to support governments, health services and national emergency response efforts through major initiatives such as COVID Radar in Brazil and Experian CORE (COVID Outlook & Response Evaluator). These are just two examples of how we can use our data and expertise to make the biggest difference to society. It soon became clear that the impact — not just on physical health, but on financial health — would be far-reaching for people around the world. We looked at how we could use our expertise and resources to help vulnerable communities through the crisis and focused on financial education as the best way to strengthen their resilience and support their road to recovery. We launched our United for Financial Health programme.  We rapidly established 11 NGO partnerships across our biggest consumer markets to deliver targeted financial education for some of the communities hit hardest by COVID-19.  By the end of the year, we had reached nearly 35 million people, more than double our original goal of 15 million, and we’re not stopping there. We aim to reach 100 million people by 2024. Part of our efforts include our member relationships around the world.  This year, we surpassed the milestone of 100 million direct relationships with consumers globally and delivered further innovations to support people through our business, with the launch of products like Experian Boost in the UK and Serasa Score Turbo in Brazil.  This, of course, is on top of our ground-breaking Experian Boost launch in the United States in 2019. Our goal is to have a direct relationship with as many people as possible; to truly become the Consumers’ Credit Bureau and power financial opportunities for all. Driving Innovation with Social Purpose Our culture of innovation helps us harness opportunities to drive business growth. We are continually investing in product innovation and new sources of data to address emerging market opportunities that can make a real difference to global communities. In 2020, around 1,000 “innovators” from across Experian joined our annual Future of Information Conference, which was held virtually because of the pandemic, to encourage them to think differently in their work. Topics included fairness in artificial intelligence, transforming agribusiness and enhancing the consumer healthcare experience. Teams at our DataLabs in Brazil, Singapore, the UK and the USA tap into our culture of innovation to continually create new solutions to global challenges. The result of all this is that our Social Innovation products have now reached 61 million people since 2013.  We aim to reach 100 million by 2025. As John Hope Bryant, CEO of one of our NGO partners Operation HOPE, says, “Experian’s commitment to unlocking the power of data to create opportunity means more people will be set up not just to survive, but to thrive in the months and years to come.” In this year’s Sustainable Business Report our commitments come through stronger than ever. We are raising our ambition and aiming to reach 100 million people through our social innovation products by 2025. Our goal is to reach 100 million people through our United for Financial Health campaign by 2024. We have also pledged to protect our planet by becoming carbon neutral in our own operations by 2030. We know we’ve got more work to do and we remain focused on using our business to make real and sustainable change.  With social innovation running so deeply through the core of our culture, and our commitment to improving global financial health front and centre of our thinking, we will continue to push to find new solutions to help people, serve communities and protect the environment, helping to create a better future for all. All of this is very personal to me.  I passionately believe we can and should drive to make a difference in society.  I serve as executive sponsor of our ESG programs and this isn’t just another corporate program, it’s at the heart of what we do as a company to power financial opportunities. My personal pledge is to continue to keep you updated, as we progress our agenda to sustainable environmental and societal change. Read the full SBR report here.

Last week, I had the chance to take part in a few really important conversations and further exemplify our leadership and commitment to driving financial inclusion. On July 13, I had a frank dialogue with Derrick Johnson, President of the NAACP, during their 112th NAACP Virtual Annual Convention. Our conversation centered around economic inclusion, the wealth gap and the ways companies, like ours, can help provide education and access to financial services. During my conversation with Derrick, he referred to credit as a currency. I think that’s absolutely the right way to talk about it. Credit gives people access to financial services. It can divide people or bring them together to achieve their goals. We recognize there are millions of consumers who lack access to credit today. That’s why we continue to innovate through tools like Experian Boost, our free tool that enables consumers to contribute positive payment data to their Experian credit report. Especially in underserved communities, consumers may not get credit for paying their utility bills, cell phone bills, or even their streaming services, and they should. This provides a more accurate picture of their financial situation. I also participated in a virtual press conference with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and leaders from PNC, HomeFree-USA and Fifth Third Bank to discuss our participation in Project REACh, which stands for Roundtable for Economic Access and Change. It brings together leaders from the banking industry, national civil rights organizations, business and technology to reduce barriers that prevent full, equal and fair participation in the nation’s economy. We were approached to participate because of our deep understanding of credit risk and our ability to help financial institutions make informed credit decisions through data and advanced analytics. Our role is to help develop programs with the Alternative Credit Scoring Utility Team and Small Business Opportunity Team that drive financial inclusion. Our participation in Project REACh is the latest example in a string of efforts to address this important issue, including Experian Boost and our flagship lender score Experian Lift, which leverages all Experian assets to improve consumer’s access to credit. We believe that every individual deserves the opportunity to reach their fullest financial potential through fair and affordable access to credit. By sharing information around tools like Experian Boost, expanding credit education through partnerships like the NAACP, and working with leaders in the industry through Project REACh, we can help increase financial access and empower consumers to enter into the credit ecosystem – some for the first time. We’re committed to working side-by-side with regulators, businesses and consumers to eliminate credit invisibility and improve financial equity and access.

At Experian, we create a better tomorrow by powering opportunities for consumers, customers, our people and communities.  We use the full range of our capabilities to drive financial education and inclusion, and one of the ways we do this is through our United for Financial Health programme. I am delighted to announce the launch of this important programme in two of EMEA’s markets today.  We’re excited for the positive difference our two new partnerships will make to help vulnerable consumers financially recover from the impacts of Covid-19. In Italy, incidents of domestic violence have increased considerably during the global pandemic, with the Italian National Institute of Statistics reporting a 75% increase in calls to anti-violence helplines in 2020 alone.  Further statistics show women are particularly affected by unemployment due to Covid-19, reducing victims’ financial independence and their ability to escape from situations of abuse.  The increase in domestic violence since the onset of the pandemic has also been highlighted globally by the UN. To help those impacted, we intend to partner with MicroLab and Microfinanza, who support women victims of domestic violence, foreign caregivers, and young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs).  Our partnership aims to help these people access credit, so they have the financial means to improve their current situation, and take steps toward creating a better tomorrow.  We will collaborate to deliver financial education, and we intend to develop an app that captures open (non-traditional) financial data to help them build their credit profiles. In South Africa, unemployment stands at 32.6%.  A large proportion of people in the country run or work for small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs). By helping these organisations access affordable credit so they can continue to operate through the pandemic, we believe we can have a tangible impact on people’s employment. We will partner with the National Small Business Chamber, a non-profit membership organisation that supports SMEs.  Together, we will educate small business owners on their financial and credit health, empowering them to improve their personal and business credit profiles to access the funding required to maintain and grow their businesses. Combined, we estimate our partnership with our NGO partners will reach 3.8 million consumers, helping deliver on our Company’s commitment to reach 100 million people by 2024. We start work on these projects today on our path to creating a better tomorrow.