Trade balances up, but so are bankruptcies, accord

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - July 20, 2017) - Equifax Canada ^® (NYSE:EFX) today announced an investment in its Commercial Solutions business, helping Canadian business owners gain insights into their industry's financial health and identify opportunities to grow their market share.

"Better performance year after year is the goal of every company and the fastest way to get there is through a better understanding of existing customers and prospects," said George Staikos, Director of Commercial Markets, Equifax Canada. "Equifax is second to none in terms of data collection and now with our expanded commercial consulting team we can offer deeper insights into a variety of data points to drive business success."

COMMERCIAL MARKETS INSIGHTS

A recent Equifax Canada analysis of commercial credit trends revealed:

• Trade balances have increased by 31 per cent since Q4 2015, which means that businesses are conducting more transactions with each other at increased values
• Business-to-business trade delinquency decreased by 4 per cent since Q3 2014
• Business bankruptcy levels have increased by 39 per cent since Q1 2013, meaning that when businesses are severely delinquent (90 days past terms), they have a higher likelihood of never recovering
  • Business bankruptcy rates are noticeably higher in Quebec compared to the rest of the country, so extra due diligence is prudent when making higher risk credit decisions in this province
• The number of legal notices has increased by 30 per cent since Q1 2014, which means that Canadian businesses may incur greater legal fees, potentially impacting their bottom line

SLICING UP THE DATA

Using the country's largest commercial credit database with 3.7 million records covering numerous industry sectors, negative occurrence and delinquency data from 60+ collection agencies, and enhanced accounts receivable information from 41 different industries, Canada's largest financial institutions and thousands of small and medium-sized businesses rely on Equifax's data and insights every day to help find, onboard and manage their clients through the entire credit lifecycle, helping Canadian businesses succeed in this economy.

Specifically, Equifax Canada's suite of services helps businesses grow revenue, increase efficiency and protect profit through the entire credit lifecycle:

• Client acquisition
• Risk modeling and scorecard
• Adjudication
• Fraud management
• Account portfolio management
• Debt recovery

"Our aim is to help our B2B clients gain the greatest value from our enhanced commercial data and products," said Staikos. "While our clients are focused on the day-to-day requirements of running their business, our commercial team is focused on analytics, risk management, automation, account management and collections solutions."

For information on Equifax Canada's solutions for Canadian business owners, visit our content hub .

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 7,100 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 9,500 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 .