Cambodia's credit bureau is looking to leverage the resources and experience of US-based Equifax, one of the three biggest American credit report agencies, to expand its credit analysis capabilities and introduce new products to the local market, its chief executive officer said yesterday.
In February, Equifax completed its acquisition of Australia-based credit information and analysis firm VEDA Group Ltd, which holds a 49-per cent stake in the Credit Bureau Cambodia (CBC).
The $1.9 billion buyout kept VEDA’s platform and human resources intact, combining its data analytics expertise on Asia-Pacific markets with Equifax’s global reach of 820 million consumers and 91 million businesses.
Pascal Ly, CBC’s chief executive officer, said that representatives of Equifax visited the credit bureau earlier this month to understand the Cambodian market and assess the agency’s capabilities.
“They visited us at beginning of August so that we can better understand each other’s environment, context and capabilities, and at the same time to [inform us on] the products they have in hand that can be launched in our market, either directly to financial institutions or for our own usage,” he said.
The visiting Equifax team focused on three key areas where the American giant could offer its experience, namely increasing data collection for financial institutions, ensuring secure transactions via phone or internet, and automating processes to reduce the amount of time financial institutions need to make decisions on whether or not to grant loans.
CBC has amassed 2.5 million credit accounts and responded to more than nine million credit inquiries since its launch in 2012. The independent agency’s consumer credit reports provide detailed credit information and history on individual borrowers.
Ly said while Equifax’s acquisition of VEDA had no impact on the credit bureau’s shareholding structure, it added a significant resource pool.
“In theory [we are] able to tap into the over-100 years of experience of Equifax, its manpower across the globe in terms of product development and getting insights of what we could bring into our market with the over 200 products available from Equifax,” he said.
