Fair Isaac and Irish Credit Bureau Team to Expand Impact of Global FICO Score

Fair Isaac Corporation, the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology, today announced a multi-year agreement with the Irish Credit Bureau (ICB) to introduce Fair Isaac's Global FICO® credit risk score in Ireland in order to sharpen lenders' evaluation of consumer risk, help automate their decision processes and increase their profitability. Ireland becomes the sixteenth country across four continents to adopt consumer credit scores using FICO scoring technology.

Global FICO® score applies Fair Isaac's world-leading risk scoring technology to rank-order consumers according to their credit risk. Designed to be consistently scaled across credit bureaus and across national borders, Global FICO® score has established the global standard for consumer credit risk assessment. The Fair Isaac technology underlying the Global FICO® scoring model enables quick deployment in any country that has robust credit bureau data.

"ICB is delighted to add Fair Isaac as a strategic partner," said Seamus O Tighearnaigh, CEO of Irish Credit Bureau Limited. "We look forward to working with them in the provision of their renowned Global FICO score to our ICB members."

"By offering the same advanced analytic technology that has long fueled the U.S. credit industry, the Irish Credit Bureau is helping lenders throughout Ireland to quickly implement proven, highly predictive solutions for risk assessment," said Ron Totaro, vice president of Global Scoring at Fair Isaac. "Lenders of all types will find that using Global FICO® score opens their doors to new opportunities for producing significantly higher volumes while confidently controlling credit risk."

Fair Isaac developed the Global FICO® score using knowledge and experience it has gained from analyzing credit bureau data for more than 20 years. By addressing a broad range of predictive variables, this scoring technology addresses a wide variety of bureau configurations and available data. The scores are complementary to custom application and behavior models, and can be used alongside internal scores to improve decisions at all stages in the credit lifecycle. Lenders also use Global FICO® score to help them meet Basel II and other regulatory compliance requirements.

Consumers benefit when lenders use Global FICO® scores because the score provides an objective and impartial assessment of the credit risk of applicants and existing account holders. Since Global FICO® score considers all reported credit obligations, it provides lenders with a robust risk assessment tool that complements their current decision-support technology.