Greater transparency in buy now, pay later activity is key to helping consumers build their credit histories and supporting responsible lending.
Experian North AmericaScott Brown, Group President, Financial Services
Affirm plans to report all pay-over-time loan products issued from April 1, 2025, and beyond, including Pay-in-4. The move will help drive greater transparency into the buy now, pay later market while helping consumers build their credit histories over time.
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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/.
The United Nations identifies removing poverty as one of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. There’s a reason it’s number one on their list: Access to affordable financial services opens the door to opportunities for people to transform their lives – from homes and healthcare to education and entrepreneurship.. At Experian, our focus is on increasing access to financial services, improving financial literacy and building consumer confidence; we help people take control of their financial health. We are using the power of data innovation to transform lives and help businesses grow, improving financial health for people around the world. We created a dedicated Social Innovation Programme to fund, build and recognize products that will have a positive impact on the financial health of consumers. Between 2013 and April 2021 we have invested over US$8m across 29 product ideas. Eighteen of those products have launched, reaching 61 million people, many of whom are from financially vulnerable backgrounds. In June, we opened applications for our latest round of annual Social Innovation funding and asked teams to come up with new innovative products that positively impact the financial health of our consumers and use data for good. Of these, seven projects were shortlisted and presented to our Social Innovation Committee, which I am privileged enough to chair. It was a tough decision, but we chose three truly diverse projects to receive this year’s Social Innovation funding and we are really excited about what they could achieve. These projects will give millions of people in India access to a more positive loan decision, allow citizens in the UK to manage their vulnerability data across multiple organisations, and help farmers in Brazil to access the credit they need to keep their businesses going. Between them, these three projects alone have the potential to reach over 85 million people in the next five years, which is a truly exciting prospect. We are proud to celebrate our culture of purpose-led innovation. Our social innovation products have reached 61 million people since 2013 and we aim to reach 100 million by 2025. Read more about how we are helping to create a better tomorrow.
This year is the first time we are observing International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), but Experian has been working to support those who identify as part of this community long before now. I share the story of my colleague, software engineer Andy Willard. While Andy has been with Experian for 25 years, he didn’t share his deteriorating eyesight condition with managers at first. “Truthfully, I didn’t ask for a lot. I had the position and I don’t want to rock the boat or put a spotlight on myself. But in 2000, I stopped driving and rode the bus to work a lot. That would take an hour and a half each way. I finally went to my manger and requested telecommuting days, and at the time no one was getting those,” Andy said. His managers immediately agreed and he works 100 percent remotely, long before the pandemic. Experian provided tools like larger monitors and accessibility software to assist with on-screen reading. He appreciates the technology and the time the company allows him for classes to learn about new ways to adjust to working with his visual impairment. But, there can still be some challenges, like when a company-wide software update doesn’t automatically reconnect his system with the screen reader or screen magnifying tools. We know we still have work to do. Being named a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion earlier this year let us know we’re on the right track; and we’re excited to continue developing our partnerships with Disability:IN and the National Disability Institute, for which our Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Wil Lewis is a board member of both. As the co-executive sponsor of the ASPIRE employee resource group, which focuses on mental health, caregiving and disabilities, we want our coworkers to know they are supported and we will do all we can to ensure they continue to grow and develop their careers, as Andy did. His first job at Experian was as an analyst, then moved on to software development and then into a software engineering role. I’m proud of the work we are doing at Experian. We’ve made great strides forward to support an inclusive work environment for everyone, and there’s more to be done. I encourage my coworkers to share their stories as Andy did so we know where we should focus our efforts and support our colleagues in making Experian an employer of choice for people who live with disabilities.
Last week, Experian’s Nottingham office hosted the National Data Strategy Forum as it kicked off its series of regional events showcasing the power of data. The day brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including National Numeracy, the National Literacy Trust and the University of Nottingham, alongside representatives from the Department of Culture, Media & Sport, to talk about the ways data can benefit Midlands business, societies and communities. From financial inclusion, digital literacy, and the role of data in protecting the most vulnerable in our society, to the ways data can create business opportunities for the future, and how we can work together to support grassroots innovation across the region, the discussion focused on how Government and industry can work together to accelerate regional success. This is an early and important step in helping realise the potential of data to create a better tomorrow for people in the Midlands and across the UK. We look forward to continuing to engage with the NDS Forum to bring that potential to life.
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