We often share at Experian that we want to be an organisation where people are free to be their true selves and have an equal chance to succeed, a place where everyone is celebrated for bringing their whole selves to work. When our colleagues thrive, they innovate, and contribute to the future of the business. It is in this spirit we welcome you to The Power of You: 2022 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report. Our second edition is really an evolution. For the first time, we are introducing our global DEI framework and our focus on people, clients and consumers, and the communities in which we live and work. We’re proud to be recognised as a Great Place to Work, as 90% of our colleagues agree Experian people are treated fairly regardless of their social and economic status, sexual orientation, race or gender. In this report, you’ll see examples of the efforts we’ve made over this last year including the work towards gender equity. Our target is for 40% of our senior leaders to be women by 2024. We have engagement programs to encourage women into STEM roles within the business, while the appointment of Malin Holmberg as CEO of our EMEA and Asia Pacific business alongside the promotion of Jennifer Schulz to CEO of our North America business has increased our percentage of senior female leaders. Beyond strengthening our own processes in promoting DEI, we’re partnering with organisations such as Disability:IN, Code First Girls and the National Urban League to help underserved communities gain fair and equitable access to credit and financial resources. More broadly, we are continuing with our United for Financial Health programme. So far, we’ve connected with 87 million people since 2020 and remaining on track to connect with 100 million people by 2024. We were named in Fortune’s 2021 ‘Change the World’ list for our work to improve financial health. Our aim is to be force for good. This is at the heart of our purpose exemplified by all of our 20,600 employees across 43 nations: to create a better tomorrow for consumers, our clients, our people and communities. Please find our latest DEI report in full here.
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.
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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/.