Experian 2014 Annual Report Download - page 60

Our differentiators
Products and services that generate
social and commercial value
Each year Experian helps millions
of organisations manage credit risk,
prevent fraud, target their marketing
and make their decision-making more
accurate and efficient. By building
social benefit more deliberately into our
mainstream business and utilising our
unique insights, we have the potential
to make a significant difference.
We have over a thousand existing
products and services and have identified
that many have an inherent social, as
well as a commercial benefit. With
an emphasis on how they can foster
financial inclusion, promote financial
education, and support small business
entrepreneurs, an initial assessment
undertaken during the last year
established that the social reach of just
30 of these products is around ten million
people a year.
For example, in Kenya, Ghana, Ivory
Coast and the Philippines we are enabling
better, cheaper access to finance through
branchless banking in emerging markets.
In the UK, our product, created with
Big Issue Invest, has the potential to
help one million social housing tenants
improve their credit reports and access
mainstream lending.
We will continue to evaluate our products
and examine how they can be replicated
in new regions, particularly in emerging
markets, benefiting those most vulnerable
in society.
Our aim over the last year was to scale
up our investment in social innovation –
products with a social purpose as their
starting point – to help us positively
impact an even greater number of
people. In achieving this aim, during
2013, we invested nearly US$700,000 to
develop new concepts and products.
Our employees provided a number
of ideas with a wide range of social
benefits and innovative business models.
Of the seven we funded following a
comprehensive assessment phase, the
benefits for individuals ranged from
a free online debt resolution service
in Brazil to improved provision for
children with special educational needs
in North America. The case studies
above describe the new services being
developed in India and Brazil.
Our goal is that these new data and
analytics products will create social
benefit for an additional five million
individuals, both consumers and
entrepreneurs, by 2018 around the world.
Helping consumers to make informed
and responsible decisions
Experian operates 19 consumer
bureaux across the world, reaching
millions of consumers. We are obliged
by law to provide a certain level of
service to consumers. We aim to
exceed imposed standards and have
a network of consumer champions
across the globe to help us do this.
We are continually investing in new ways
to improve our service and the information
we provide to consumers. This includes
in new markets where credit agencies
have not previously existed. Following the
opening of Experian’s Consumer Credit
Bureau in Australia, we launched our
Fraud Bureau in November 2013,
which enables data sharing with
credit providers before fraud occurs.
Community investment
2014
US$'000s
2013
US$'000s
Funds from Experian plc 2,299 1,217
Financial donations and investments
from Experian subsidiaries 2,347 2,676
Employee time volunteered 1,056 656
Gifts in kind 604 323
Management costs 605 416
Total from Experian 6,911 5,288
As % of Benchmark PBT 0.56% 0.44%
Employee fundraising 1,270 785
Total value of all giving 8,181 6,073
As % of Benchmark PBT 0.66% 0.51%
Increase in total community
investment from Experian of 31%.
Our corporate responsibilities continued
“ Experian’s programme of
investment in social innovation
is beginning to create true shared
value. This, combined with their
ambition to assess the social
impact of mainstream products,
really identifies them as one of the
originators in inclusive business.
They have set out a pioneering
approach and engaged their senior
leadership in its development
– a company to watch!”
Strategic report • Our corporate responsibilities56