Published on 08 October 2008

To help counteract the economic downturn CHP Consulting has launched Business Rules Engine (BRE) - a scorecard engine that plugs into the company's ALFA system and provides "tree" or "table top" decisions to lenders.

Two lenders which are "household names", one in the UK and one in the US, have already adopted BRE within their lending operations, and further implementation is more than likely as the economic downturn lifts.

Andrew Denton, director of sales and marketing at CHP, said: "It makes available a credit analysis, including search criteria, for evaluating a potential customer at the point-of-sale, and also later on when that customer's retention is being considered by the lender. It can be updated and amended as the initial loan proceeds and the lender's profile evolves and changes."

Denton contends that during the time of economic boom, demand for technology tended to be focused at attracting new businesses.

"This is changing," he said. "Already we are witnessing a move of emphasis towards back-end systems with the need to process bad debt and arrears, and increase operational efficiency and customer retention."

Meanwhile, Experian has launched Universal ID Check, a multichannel authentication system designed to enable lessors and other lenders to verify the identities of residents from some 24 countries worldwide.

Jim Lound, product director of fraud and identity solutions at Experian, said that Universal ID Check provides a fast, accurate and cost-effective alternative to the use of documentary evidence for verifying identities. It cross-references information provided by customers against a selection of data sources.

He said: "It will appeal to international organisations that lease to customers across the countries covered - and also to lenders requiring a flexible single-solution for verifying identities."

Brian Rogerson

The article was printed in Leasing Life issue 181 on 8 October 2008 and reproduced by permission of the publisher.