EFG Eurobank Ergasias is a rapidly expanding bank within both the Greek and South-Eastern European market place. In Greece, with its data centre located in Athens, the bank supports a local distribution network of over 300 branches and 700 ATMs.  Additional distribution channels, including phone, electronic and mobile banking, deliver a high quality of choice and customer service to their portfolio base.

Eurobank’s vision is to be the bank of first choice for every Greek client as well as the leading choice for clients in South-Eastern Europe and to operate to the benefit of its shareholders. A spokesman from Eurobank said: “We selected Experian Decision Analytics for several reasons. Experian Decision Analytics has been delivering risk management solutions for more than two decades globally and we learnt of their Basel II expertise using references from other banks in Europe. Also, we required strong local presence. Having worked in the past with Experian Decision Analytics’s Hellenic office, we are aware of its strong experience in both the Greek and international marketplaces. Its local market knowledge combined with its global presence and expertise made Experian Decision Analytics our preferred choice.”

Probe SM is a sophisticated decision engine that helps manage individual accounts in order to make timely, profitable decisions that help maximize the value of customer relationships. The Eurobank project concentrates on the Basel II module of Probe SM, which facilitates the implementation of the Basel II Capital Accord advanced IRB approach.  Advanced risk rating tools, as required by the Basel II Capital Accord, will be developed to estimate the Probability of Default (PD), the Loss Given Default (LGD) and the Exposure of Default (EAD) for Eurobank’s Retail portfolios.

Experian Decision Analytics has worked with over 30 major organisations over the past six years on Basel II projects and has built up valuable expertise and a strong knowledge base. That is important for banks that work across different portfolios where there are significant differences in determining PD, LGD and EAD. Combined with strategy to develop stronger risk management practices, the Experian Decision Analytics solution will provide Eurobank with a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Hunter solution is implemented in the online environment, fully integrated and operating in real-time alongside the application processing solution. It works by checking for inconsistencies in each application and comparing the application data against the integrated information store of previous applications and suspect information. This ensures that Bank Renaissance Capital can match the application against fraudulent, declined or multiple previous applications and identify where an alias, false details or impersonation is being attempted. Fraudulent applications are declined automatically with  potentially suspect applications passed to the investigation team who use Hunter’s interactive tools to review the application and determine whether it is fraudulent. Fraud detection continually improves as the database is updated with every suspect case and rules are updated to reflect new fraud trends. 

Fernando Silva, Risk Director from Bank Renaissance Capital commented: “Bank Renaissance Capital has invested in leading international risk technology since the beginning of its operation. The business is focused on implementing world class solutions to support our long term plans to be one of the leading consumer finance banks in Russia. Hunter was an obvious choice for enhancement, offering fuzzy logic capabilities with the flexibility required for high performance matching engine. In addition, the ability to run the solution on-line is compatible with our other technologies in the business and the way the bank operates its large distribution and fast growing business”.

This is the first delivery of Experian Decision Analytics’s leading edge fraud solution in the Russian market. Hunter is widely used in financial services worldwide. No doubt, fraud is a non-competitive issue for lenders so Experian Decision Analytics is currently looking at the opportunities for a shared national Hunter solution in Russia, enabling organisations to work together to protect against fraud and giving the fraudsters nowhere to go.

Hunter’s powerful fraud detection has recently been enhanced to ensure that Hunter offers the flexibility that the market requires. Even if systems are good at detecting potential fraud, nothing beats human judgement in deciding what is fraudulent. That is why Hunter isn’t just a detection tool, it is also an interactive, user-friendly investigation tool which is rated as the best in the business by fraud analysts.

“This acquisition represents a significant increase in Experian’s consumer information activities in the new Europe" said John Saunders, Chief Executive, Global Operations. “It compliments the activities of our specialist decision support solutions business, Experian Decision Analytics, and consolidates its position in the region as a leading provider of information solutions and risk management. ExCB has been a pioneer in the credit bureau business in Romania and we believe that this acquisition will bring considerable benefits to our clients already operating in this country.

Experian is the world’s leading credit bureau operator and has built up considerable expertise and knowledge, and already operates credit bureaux in 12 international markets, including Bulgaria and Russia.  We shall combine this expertise with the predictive analytics, decision support technologies and strategy optimisation skills of Experian Decision Analytics to enhance ExCB’s services to address issues such as fraud, overindebtedness and controlling credit risk.

The consumer economy is growing rapidly in Romania and we believe that introducing shared credit information via credit bureaux will result in better risk management for lenders and sustainable financial market stability for lenders and consumers”.

The acquisition is consistent with Experian’s global strategy of acquiring complementary businesses that provide new products, new data or entry into new vertical or regional markets, while leveraging the core assets of Experian.

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Representatives from over 40 financial companies operating in Eastern European countries had the opportunity to network and compare local experiences with those of other market players as well as with international best practices.

The event focused on the analysis of strategies and solutions for Credit Risk Management and covered different Credit Risk Management areas. In each of the six sessions (Fraud Control, Anti-Money Laundering, Acquisition Management, Basel II, Collection, Customer Management) lead market players and national institutions presented their specific experience.

“The Forum’s agenda was a good mixture of cases studies and theoretical presentations” remarked one of the attendees, Christoph Helm (Bank Austria Creditanstalt). The speakers' panel was composed of representatives from international banking groups (Unicredit New Europe and Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG) who presented their cross border approach in risk management as well as leading and dynamic market players like Europay Austria, Slovenske kreditne karty (Slovakia - part of Intesa BCI group) and Zagrebacka Banka (Croatia – Part of Unicredit group).

The Hungarian Leasing Association, Polish Bank Association and Czech National Bank presented local market features and shared the associations’ and regulator’s point of view respectively on mortgage risk management, SME lending approach and anti-money laundering regulations.

“The CEE SM Forum helped to raise the level of common understanding of risk problems.  I personally was amazed by the diversity of the approaches in other banks and took a lot of knowledge back to Bratislava. The event was a win-win situation for everybody” declared Kristof Turcan (Istrobanka). Emiliano Steinfl (Unicredit New Europe) commented that  “All of the topics covered could become the main topic for further meetings. The scenarios introduced during the meeting were very interesting and allow for further development”. "The seminar was instructive, the quality of presentations was enriching and the overall program was extremely pleasant." concluded Mrs Irina Oprescu (Alpha Bank Romania).

Fraud is an increasingly prominent and costly business issue. False identity fraud and impersonation in commercial and consumer environments has shown the most significant increases of any financial crime in recent years. Globally, identity fraud cost US$221 billion in 2003 and is forecast to reach US$2 trillion by the end of 2006. It is also widely accepted that fraud often lies undiscovered and remains lurking within bad debt. ‘Sleeper’ fraud is a typical example, whereby time elapses between the date of application and the date when fraudulent activity begins.

Sean Hegarty, Head of Fraud UK, GE Consumer Finance says: “As a leading provider of global financial services, GE Consumer Finance operates in 47 countries. We have worked in partnership with Experian group for the past 14 years and have recently agreed a global deal for the provision of their solution to help combat application fraud. We are confident that Experian plc will supply a  comprehensive, tailored and  highly flexible global fraud  prevention solution which will be  fully integrated into our credit risk, anti-money laundering and fraud management systems. They will continue to provide ongoing fraud consultancy to all aspects of our business.”

Gary Wood, managing Director of Fraud Solutions, Experian Decision Analytics explains: “Fraud solutions is all about staying one step ahead of the fraudsters and Hunter combines the very latest database and software technology to do this.”

Hunter is the solution designed to help companies combat different kinds of application fraud (personal loan, credit card or mortgage application fraud to illegitimate insurance claims, mobile phone post-paid subscription, etc.).

Hunter works by cross-checking applications with previous applications made by the same person, for different types of financial, telecommunications or insurance products. It also flags possible anomalies, such as an 18-year old applicant with a six-figure salary. Distinguishing between the truth, genuine mistakes and attempted fraud is then the job of individual companies’ fraud investigators/analysts.

Hunter is offered as a hosted solution in a managed services environment.

The reason for this approach is that although 65% of the benefits accrue to an organization checking applications against its own data, significant additional benefits can be realized when various organizations in the same country share fraud data. For example in the UK, over 110 organisations are clients of our Hunter National Fraud Bureau business, which today contains a database of 350 000 known individual fraudsters. Since its launch in 1996 in the United Kingdom, the National Hunter has saved its members over € 4 billion. Currently, the National Hunter saves its members €850 million per year. Similar National Hunter bureaus have been established in Australia, South Africa and Italy.

Hunter, developed as an hosted Managed Service mode offers significant business and operational benefits as well as flexible deployment and operational options. Operationally there is no need for technical support resources, nor additional hardware investments, the implementation time-scales are reduced, and the users can utilise the knowledge of the highly qualified resources of Experian Decision Analytics.

Each phase of the solution can be delivered rapidly and completely to the client’s requirements. Hunter integrates with the client’s existing application processing system and acquisition workflow process and optimises the opportunity to detect potential fraudsters and the benefits provided by this new service.

Today, Hunter users' list includes names like: Abbey National (SCH), Bank of Scotland, Bank Reinassance Capital, Barclays Bank, Halifax Card Services, HSBC Bank, Lloyds TSB Bank, MBNA Europe, National Australia Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Westpac, Zebank and Nationwide Building Society.

7th SOUTHEAST EUROPE ECONOMIC FORUM 2005
Development of Knowledge-Based Economy and Support for Competitive SMEs

Southeast Europe Economic Forum (SEEF) is a unique regional event that takes place each November in Sofia, Bulgaria (1&2 November 2005 National Palace of Culture, Sofia). SEEF gathers government officials, industry leaders, investors, financial institutions, international organisations, representatives of local authorities, bankers, and business service providers both within and beyond the SEE region interested in tangible opportunities for investment and growth in SEE Countries.

The event is a platform that includes different discussion panels. Amongst others, on day 2, November 2nd -  the discussion panel dedicated to the “ Introduction of BASEL II rules and the financial sectors of SEE countries”  will include members of Experian Decision Analytics, who will present the company’s international experience in supporting Basel II projects in over 30 major organizations across Europe.

SOFIA – AML INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Globalisation, European Conventions and National Initiatives against Money Laundering and Terrorism.

The major objective of this International forum (Sofia October 27-28) is to reflect the dynamic changes, in a global and national aspect, in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. The conference is organised by the International Banking Institute in partnership with the Financial Intelligence Agency, the Association of Commercial Banks and the Bulgarian National Bank, and is proudly sponsored by Experian Decision Analytics. The aim of the event is to provide Bulgarian and international institutions, working against money laundering and terrorism financing, with the opportunity to share experiences, discuss adequate prevention measures and co-ordinate the legal framework as well convince the participants of the necessity of common operations on a European and world level in order to counteract money laundering and terrorism financing. Experian Decision Analytics actively participates in the event, presenting its international experience in supporting organisations to prevent criminal intent and providing evidences as to why financial institutions should invest in detection and compliance tools to protect themselves against money laundering.

SOFIA - STRATEGY MANAGEMENT FORUM, November 22

Experian Decision Analytics is pleased to announce the forthcoming Sofia Strategy Management Seminar, an event dedicated to the Bulgarian market, focusing on the analysis of strategies and solutions for the Credit Risk Management. The seminar will cover different Credit Risk Management areas in various phases of the customer’s life cycle. The agenda includes sessions on Anti-Money Laundering, Fraud Prevention, Scoring and Loan Origination with the participation of Mr Levon Hampartzoumian, Chairman of the Executive Board of Association of Commercial Banks. His presentation will focus on “The increase in financial intermediation in the Bulgarian market: challenges and opportunities for the banking sector”.  Local economic experts will also provide an overview on the Bulgarian economic prospects of growth and investment and the agenda includes the practical experience on Strategic Origination Management presented by Bulbank. The seminar is intended for Directors, Chief Executive Officers and Heads of Credit Risk Management from banking, financial and telecommunication companies operating in Bulgaria.

The event will take place at the Sheraton Balkan Hotel and participation is free of charge. A simultaneous English-Bulgarian translation will be provided. For further information please contact: clementina.papagianni@experian-scorex.mc

See the agenda

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Bulgarian >>

WARSAW - II CONGRESS ON HOUSING FINANCE IN CEE, November 17-18

The Congress on Housing Finance in the Central European Countries, organised by the Polish Bank Association, held its first meeting in December 2004.  Following this there will be regular meetings of professionals and institutions from the real estate finance market in the region.The main goal of the Congress is to integrate common activities by using joint experience to raise the dynamic of real estate finance growth, without affecting the security of financial systems.

The purpose of the second meeting, that will take place on November 17 & 18, is to present the materialisation of housing finance policies, prerequisites for primary and secondary mortgage markets. It will also look at the role of state policy and the conditions of participation in European mortgage market harmonization, and the impact of these elements on the affordability of mortgage loans. The Congress includes presentations about the real estate finance market in different countries, including case studies, issues and solutions. The agenda comprises parallel sessions, including one dedicated to Mortgage Credit Risk mitigation instruments on the first day. This stream includes a presentation from Experian Decision Analytics that will cover “Conditions for PD and LGD assumptions in mortgage loan underwriting process”. The agenda and registration can be downloaded from the Polish Bank Association website.

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MOSCOW - STRATEGY MANAGEMENT SEMINAR 2005, December 6th

Experian Decision Analytics professionals will lead you through an overview of decisioning process in Credit Risk Management, from the loan origination and collection process to the fraud prevention methodologies, implemented within an automated environment. The agenda includes examples of credit strategies and case studies presented by local market players. The event will take place at the Marriott Tverskaya Hotel and is intended for Directors, Chief Executive Officers and Heads of Credit Risk Management from banking, financial and telecommunication companies operating in Russia and CIS. Please note that the event is free of charge and a simultaneous English-Russian translation will be provided. For further information please contact our offices in Moscow or e-mail to laura.ippolito@experian-scorex.mc

“I think that the Strategy Management Seminar organized by Experian Decision Analytics has not only given a very comprehensive and complete vision of the business cycle in credit risk management but also of how it is important to use the appropriate tools and solutions that allow the efficient implementation of the credit risk management models. At the same time, it has been very profitable and interesting to share our experience of using Experian Decision Analytics solutions with other companies from the banking and financial community”. Javier González  - BBVA Group (Strategy Management Seminar, Madrid - June 2005)

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