What is Business Information?
Understanding the essential role of business information in modern commerce
Facilitating Business Decisions
Business information helps provide users with background into commercial entities to facilitate a business decision or transaction; often reducing risk, deterring economic crime; and facilitating the granting of credit. Business Information includes but is not limited to business accounts, directors and shareholders information, insolvency proceedings and payment behaviour.
How Information is Gathered and Accessed
Our members gather data on businesses from various sources to create Business Information services. This information is accessed by customers most commonly online in a Business or Credit Report, clients' credit risk management systems but also via bulk data transfers or Application Programming Interfaces (API's).
Data Sources:
These databases are derived from publicly available sources in each country, including but not limited to:
- •Trade Registries
- •Chambers of Commerce
- •Companies House
- •Courthouses
- •Official Gazettes for Insolvency Proceedings and Bankruptcy Information
In addition, our members may also gather information from other proprietary sources to supplement the publicly available data already gathered. This may include trade payment and business directory information.
Analysis and Risk Assessment
Our members often collate and analyse this information and provide customers with an easy-to-use summary Business Report or Credit Score. This can represent the creditworthiness, risk of failure or risk of payment default of a business.
These are created using proprietary statistical risk assessment models.
How is Business Information Used?
Services provided by Business Information Providers include:
Why It Matters
The services that BIPs offer matter to society as these services accommodate a climate of engaging in business transactions safely, responsibly and with more legal certainty.