FICO Drives Greater Financial Inclusion in the Philippines with National Credit Bureau Scores

SINGAPORE — 27 October, 2016

HIGHLIGHTS:

• FICO^® Score for International Markets will combine, compare and standardize bureau information in the Philippines to improve consumer credit assessment
• The FICO Score will initially use data from CIBI, the Philippines' first and only local credit bureau and the country’s cooperative banks.
• Further data is expected to come from the national credit information system run by the government-owned Credit Information Corporation (CIC) via CIBI
• FICO also developing a second score in the first half of 2017 using alternative data to address consumers with no formal credit history 

For more information: www.fico.com/financialinclusion

http://www.fico.com/en/products/fico-score-international-markets

Analytic software firm FICO, the world leader in credit scoring, has today announced the launch of its highly predictive FICO^® Score for International Markets in the Philippines.

The solution improves the appraisal of a borrower’s creditworthiness by intelligently interpreting financial data that may only cover a single credit line or a small consumer segment. The score is produced by applying this data to FICO’s tried-and-tested expert model to produce a richer picture of credit risk through analytic interpolation.

Local banks, telecommunications companies and utilities can then make better credit decisions as a result of this enhanced assessment.

In the Philippines, the initial data will come from CIBI, the country’s first and only local credit bureau and its member cooperative banks.

“Our partnership with CIBI is a cornerstone of our financial inclusion program in the Philippines,” said Andrew Jennings, senior vice president of Scores at FICO. “Available from today, our national score will help those with limited credit information to gain greater access to financial services.”

Marlo Cruz, president and CEO at CIBI said, “The launch of this score is a welcome addition to efforts to help more people join the middle class and reduce poverty. Working with FICO and their local partner CCS, we expect to raise the standard for credit risk assessment in the Philippines for many years to come.”

Consumer CreditScore (CCS), FICO’s local scoring service partner is managing the rollout of the FICO^® Score for International Markets in the Philippines.

“The score is available immediately and will enter commercial trials with banks for the next month, with plans to issue scores for loan applications from December,” said Clive Knott director at CCS. "There has been strong interest from Philippine lenders because the FICO Score is used in more than 25 countries across the world and has a strong brand and reputation when it comes to risk assessment.”

Further to today’s announcement, the promotion of a national credit information exchange by the government-owned Credit Information Corporation (CIC) will see further adoption of the FICO Score.

“FICO will be ready from day one to incorporate this collective credit information into the score when it is made available,” explained Jennings. “Our partner CIBI is one of the bureaus recently approved to access the data. When the increased pool of consumer files comes online, it will improve the hit rate of our score. This broadens the number of consumers we can then accurately assess.”

CCS is also working with FICO on the development of a second score in the first half of 2017 using alternative data to address consumers with no credit history.

The announcement of these scores in the Philippines comes just a week after FICO declared it was invested in a comprehensive effort to increase access to affordable credit worldwide. The FICO Financial Inclusion Initiative involves a combination of business partnerships, innovative new products, mobile platforms and cloud-based services to help credit grantors make affordable credit accessible to some 3+ billion people worldwide.

About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 165 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time.

Learn more at http://www.fico.com

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