CEO.CA Chairman's Briefing

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan 24, 2017) - Equifax^® Canada (NYSE:EFX) announced today it has launched the first phase of a new multi-million dollar technology platform that will provide Canadian financial institutions with radically improved insights to help them understand their customers' needs and motivations. The new technology will enable Equifax and its clients to deliver a better end-consumer experience, faster service, and fair and flexible access to credit for all Canadians.

Equifax Canada sees the new platform reaping benefits for both credit-granting institutions, as well as the general public who rely on credit to finance dozens of individual transactions every week. By delivering more predictive insights about consumer spending, credit behaviour and potential delinquency the first component of this multi-phase project will give financial institutions access to data that provides a more accurate risk profile of their customers. In particular, trended credit data which details repayment history and highlights trends adds significant insight that goes well beyond a static point-in-time credit score when it comes to underwriting lending risk. In addition to the credit scores Equifax provides today, these in-depth views of consumer behaviour provide a more comprehensive understanding of the financial health of consumers and businesses alike.

New Canadians with little-to-no credit history, for example, will benefit from lenders who have more information to base an evaluation on versus simply turning them down. This will help reduce Canadian consumers' reliance on high interest lenders who profit when the prospective borrower cannot be profiled because they lack credit history. At the same time lenders will be able to gain access to new markets which may have been difficult to underwrite in the past, creating a win-win for the Canadian economy.

Jimmy Chan, Chief Information Officer, Equifax Canada states, "Our clients want and need us to innovate by helping them reach new markets and compete more effectively in a rapidly changing credit environment that includes emerging alternative and Fintech lenders. This investment will go a long way to achieving that goal."

Equifax Canada is a key player in operationalizing the new technology platform globally because it is a mature sophisticated credit lending market with top tier clients in many of the key credit sectors.

Equifax is Canada's leading credit bureau, delivering data in its most powerful form.

About Equifax

Equifax powers the financial future of individuals and organizations around the world. Using the combined strength of unique trusted data, technology and innovative analytics, Equifax has grown from a consumer credit company into a leading provider of insights and knowledge that helps its customers make informed decisions. The company organizes, assimilates and analyzes data on more than 820 million consumers and more than 91 million businesses worldwide, and its databases include employee data contributed from more than 6,600 employers.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. It is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500® Index, and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. Equifax employs approximately 9,400 employees worldwide.

Some noteworthy achievements for the company include: Ranked 13 on the American Banker FinTech Forward list (2015); named a Top Technology Provider on the FinTech 100 list (2004-2015); named an InformationWeek Elite 100 Winner (2014-2015); named a Top Workplace by Atlanta Journal Constitution (2013-2015); named one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies (2011-2015); named one of Forbes' World's 100 Most Innovative Companies (2015). For more information, visit www.equifax.com