New credit bureau sets scene for growth in Russian asset lending

Equifax has acquired a 28 per cent stake
in Global Payments Credit Services (GPCS) a major credit
information company in Russia from Global Payments Europe s.r.o
(GPE) – a subsidiary of Global Payments Inc, and Home Credit and
Finance Bank of Russia.
Pending regulatory approval Equifax will re-brand the company and
assume responsibility for its operations. Based on meeting certain
conditions in the shareholder agreement, Equifax will have the
ability to acquire up to 50 per cent – the current legal limit for
any owner.
GPE and Home Credit have operated GPCS as a joint venture since
acquiring the company in 2005. Trey Loughran, senior vice
president, Corporate Development, for Equifax explained that GPE is
the leading provider of cashless payment services for corporate
clients in the Czech Republic and also provides services to clients
in central and eastern Europe and the Russian Federation.
He said: “The growth in the Russian economy provides a significant
opportunity for Equifax to assist Russian asset lenders seeking a
competitive advantage from credit information, analytics and
value-added services.”
Loughran said that in just three years GPCS has built a database of
nearly 20m records on over 14m individuals from more than 50 data
providers under contract. “This, he said, “makes the company a
leading credit bureau in Russia according to the Central Catalog of
Credit Histories – the regulator of credit bureaux in Russia.
Recent legislation requiring Russian financial institutions to
share data with at least one credit bureau has accelerated the
credit information market in Russia and has allowed independent
credit bureaux like GPCS to develop larger and more accurate data
sets.