Experian Group CEO, Brian Cassin:
I’m delighted to announce that Experian has, for the first time, been included as part of Fortune’s 2021 ‘Change the World’ list. The list recognises companies from around the globe for their efforts to address some of the biggest challenges the world faces. It is an honour to be part of this list which includes companies that are doing the most to tackle the climate crisis, growing inequality, wealth disparity, inequitable access to health care and to eliminate racism and bias. Our entry is at #37.
Fortune has recognised our efforts to promote financial health and drive financial inclusion through Experian Boost. Experian Boost is the most visible, high profile way people can see our impact and we are incredibly proud of this. But it is not just Experian Boost, and you have heard me say this many times, our products, our services and our time is used to make a real difference to the financial lives of people all over the world. We have partnered with over a dozen charities through our United for Financial Health programme to help vulnerable communities improve their financial health, and our social innovation fund has also helped millions.
It is great to be recognised, the hard work and commitment of our colleagues across the world deserve to be. None of our major competitors have been recognised in this way. Our purpose, to power opportunities and create a better tomorrow for consumers, our clients, our people and communities, has never been more important. We are committed to this, it is not a set of slogans, it is who we are and it is what we do. We have a strong social purpose at the heart of our business and I know that we all share a passion for doing the right thing for those we serve.
I’m proud of this recognition and I hope you are too.
Experian Named to Fortune’s 2021 ‘Change the World’ List
Over the last 19 months the pandemic has disproportionately impacted underserved and low-income communities and exacerbated the health and economic situations of millions of consumers, making it even harder to recover from financial hardships. We’ve made it our mission to change this, and we’re doing so by unlocking the power of data to facilitate access to fair and affordable credit and create new opportunities for people and businesses.
We use our products, services, and time to make a real difference to the financial lives of people in many ways. This is at the heart of what we do as a company, and it’s one of the many reasons why it’s such a great honor to be named by Fortune to its global ranking of the top 50 companies making measurable progress addressing social problems.
Experian Boost is one example of our commitment to improving financial inclusion, providing users access to credit as a result of improved credit scores. Two years ago, we created this first-of-its-kind service designed to help consumers instantly improve their credit score by giving them credit for on-time utility, telecom, and streaming service payments. Experian Boost in the USA and UK, combined with Serasa’s Score Turbo in Brazil, are empowering consumers to take more control of their financial well-being and promoting financial inclusion.
United for Financial Health is another new financial recovery program we created to help consumers who don’t typically have access to credit. Through this initiative we teamed up with 11 NGOs to reach 35 million people in less than a year, smashing our first-year target of 15 million. The partnerships this year have focused on three primary consumer markets – the USA, the UK and Ireland and Brazil.
That said, we recognize there is more work to be done. In our 2021 Sustainable Business Report, we made several commitments, including to reach 100 million people through our United for Financial Health campaign by 2024. We remain focused on using our business to make real, sustainable change.
Being named on Fortune’s 2021 ‘Change the World’ list is also a testament to our truly inclusive culture at Experian, where everyone’s hard work and commitment is proving to deliver a positive impact to society.
Through our investments in data and advanced analytics, we will continue to help lenders identify consumers who are excluded from the credit ecosystem, but who can fulfill their financial obligations and pay responsibly. We want to empower consumers to take control of their financial lives, and we will continue to take strides to do so, ensuring we do the right thing for those we serve.