I’m pleased to share that Experian has taken another important step in the transformation of our Consumer Services business, having signed an agreement to acquire CSIdentity Corporation (CSID).
The name CSID may not be familiar to most, but it’s a major provider of identity theft and fraud detection solutions in the United States. CSID is the technology platform that sits behind many other identity solution providers, and it’s CSID’s innovation that powers many of the core features of identity protection products marketed under other brands. Experian is familiar with CSID as we have partnered with them in the past, given the synergistic nature of our products.
Helping Consumers and Businesses …
Beyond being a very important step for our business in North America, I want to highlight how joining forces will help businesses and consumers alike.
The combination of our products and services creates a powerful solution in the identity theft protection world.
- By bringing together Experian’s industry-leading Consumer Services products with the proprietary technology and innovation of CSID’s identity protection platform, we will be able to offer consumers and clients best-in-class credit and identity solutions.
- This acquisition significantly enhances our ability to address consumers’ advanced needs for tools to protect their identity and detect fraud. CSID has developed a sophisticated and patent-protected technology platform that discovers when identity information has been possibly compromised, and notifies consumers of the activity so that immediate action can be taken.
- By combining Experian’s credit expertise and CSID’s enhanced capabilities in identity management, we will be able to provide consumers with the ability to manage both their credit and their identity information in one proposition.
- This two-level approach using credit and identity information enables us to proactively inform consumers that their identification data has been compromised using CSID identity solutions, and advise them that stolen identity information is actively being used in credit inquiries and new account openings.
Business Strategy …
Consumer adoption of identity-related services is growing globally, driven in part by identity-related trends such as increasing digital activity and the threats around cybersecurity.
We now have clear sight of a larger and more dynamic market that provides us with greater opportunities to leverage the entire range of Experian data and analytics capabilities to address the growing needs of consumers. And identity theft protection is a big part of our growth plan.
This effort puts the consumer at the center of our decisions. Our aim is to significantly enrich the consumer experience by providing access to a broad range of information, including credit, automotive, health, and identity to help consumers make more informed decisions and control their information.
CSID has existing contracts with many industry participants. I’m confident Experian’s breadth of data and analytics capabilities could add real value to these relationships.
The Details …
As is common in a deal such as this, the agreement is subject to Hart-Scott Rodino regulatory approval. Once that is concluded, we will be in a position to talk in even greater detail about how and why this acquisition will be a powerful win for helping businesses and consumers navigate the modern era of personal identity theft protection services.
We’re delighted by the opportunities the acquisition of CSID brings, and we look forward to welcoming the CSID team to Experian.
Craig Boundy
Experian North America CEO