The purpose of the acquisition is to improve its open banking and insights capabilities.
As part of the agreement, Equifax will enhance its consumer and commercial product offerings, combining traditional credit bureau information held by Equifax with bank transaction data, facilitated by AccountScore.
Users of Equifax will benefit from higher rates of automated and digital income verification.
In addition, it will also be able to offer inclusive credit scoring, by using the most up-to-date information available.
This combined data approach will improve an individual’s ability to demonstrate their creditworthiness by enabling information that is not currently use to be taken into consideration, according to Equifax.
Patricio Remon, president of Europe at Equifax, said: “This is a really exciting development for Equifax and the acquisition of AccountScore, our long-term partner in Open Banking, is a natural next step as we continue to expand our data and analytics capabilities.
“AccountScore is a pioneering company with a proven track record of building innovative Open Banking platforms and this signals our commitment to continuously evolve and embrace strategic innovation to support our clients’ digital transformation, and will bring many benefits for their customers.
“More than 2.5 million UK consumers and businesses now use Open Banking-enabled products to manage their finances, access credit and make payments.
“This growth is helping to empower a generation of consumers, giving them more control over their own financial information, offering them greater access to a wider range of financial products and making it much easier to complete simple digital applications.”
Emma Steeley, chief executive at AccountScore, added: “AccountScore and Equifax have an established and successful partnership, having collaborated on a number of products and offerings over the last two years.
“This acquisition allows AccountScore to accelerate its growth and reach new customers, backed by a powerful global company.
“Open Banking is going from strength to strength, with the adoption in both the consumer and SME markets growing rapidly each month.
“We have seen lenders power improved credit decisions and account management processes using Open Banking to ultimately better service their customers.”
