Nova Credit Receives Authorisation to Become UK’s First Cross-Border Credit Reference Provider

• Nova Credit receives permissions from the Financial Conduct Authority necessary to operate in the UK

• UK lenders and financial services providers are now able to use Nova Credit’s Nova Passport technology to treat immigrants and other new-to-country individuals more fairly by serving them credit products on a more equal footing

• Nova Credit now brings greater affordability and accessibility of credit services to the UK's 10 million-strong immigrant population, months before the FCA’s new Consumer Duty rules come into effect

• Multiple UK businesses scheduled to embed Nova Credit technology in coming months

January 19, 2023 LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Nova Credit UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nova Credit, has received the requisite scope of permissions in order to provide credit references in the UK from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Through its Nova Passport technology, the firm intends to make it easier, faster and more equitable for immigrants living in the UK to access credit products and services, the likes of which are all too often out of reach to them.

Nova Credit UK’s parent company, U.S.-founded Nova Credit, is a consumer-permissioned credit bureau that’s on a mission to accelerate financial inclusion for immigrants globally. Since launching in 2016, the company has developed partnerships with credit bureaus in over 20 countries, enabling millions of immigrants to bring their foreign credit history with them when applying for credit products. The company counts American Express, HSBC, Verizon, the United Nations Federal Credit Union and SoFi among its global customers. Nova Credit announced its intention to expand to Europe, starting with the UK, in Spring 2022.

Nova Credit’s technology unlocks consumer-permissioned access to over 2 billion credit profiles worldwide. By working with Nova Credit UK, financial services providers in the UK can now incorporate credit information from foreign bureaus as part of their creditworthiness assessment.

Misha Esipov, Co-founder & CEO of Nova Credit, comments: “The UK is home to one of the world’s largest and most diverse immigrant communities; one in seven people in the UK was born overseas. We’re thrilled to bring Nova Credit across the Atlantic to support the next generation of UK-bound immigrants. This critical consumer segment is the largest driver of the country’s population growth and is mission-critical to any business looking to maintain and grow market share.”

Collin Galster, Non-Executive Director of Nova Credit UK, comments:“Using the Nova Passport, UK lenders will be able to understand the financial history of consumers from over 20 countries and instantly use this information to make more fair and inclusive decisions. We’ve been thrilled by the reception we’ve received from the UK’s leading banks, fintechs, auto lenders and telecom providers, and look forward to announcing our first wave of partners in the coming months.”

Millions of creditworthy individuals immigrate to new countries every year. Upon arrival these newcomers leave years of credit history behind them, ‘stuck’ in the countries they’ve left. Without access to their past credit history, lenders have no choice but to automatically decline or manually process their applications for new finance. Subsequently, these people struggle to access fairly priced credit-based products like credit cards, car finance or phone contracts.

Blending deep relationships with credit bureaus globally and API-driven credit risk technology, Nova Passport pulls newcomers’ established credit data from reputable credit bureaus in their countries of origin and translates it into an equivalent score and report suitable for use by lenders and financial services providers in their new host country. Seamlessly and securely integrated into a financial institution’s credit application process, Nova Credit UK’s technology enables UK lenders to make more real-time application approvals responsibly and at a greater scale to people who would otherwise be excluded from obtaining financial access.

The immigrant population is one of the fastest growing demographics in the UK. The 2021 Census revealed that 10 million people living in the UK today were born overseas and 40% of them moved to the UK in the last decade. Government figures show that every year more than 800,000 people are granted long-term visas to work or study in the UK. This data supports research from the Office of National Statistics that predicts that 100% of the UK’s annual net population growth will come from immigrants by 2035.

Matt Davies, Head of UK Market Development for Nova Credit, adds: “There is widespread appreciation among UK financial institutions of the need to be more inclusive, and this trend will be accelerated substantially this year when the FCA’s Consumer Duty rules come into effect to help more financial services deliver good outcomes for their customers.”

About Nova Credit Nova Credit is a consumer-permissioned credit bureau whose products help businesses make more fair and informed decisions on millions of ‘thin file’, no credit history or new-to-country applicants. Nova Credit UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nova Credit, and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The Nova Passport (known as Credit Passport™ outside of the UK) unlocks cross-border credit bureau data to help businesses underwrite new-to-country newcomer populations. Businesses partner with Nova Credit to approve more applicants without taking on more risk, and consumers are empowered to put their best foot forward in their applications.

In the US, the company’s differentiated data sources and proprietary analytics are used by leading organisations like American Express, Verizon, HSBC, SoFi and Yardi.

Nova Credit is backed by investors including Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst, Index Venture and Canapi as well as executives from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Citi.

Contacts

Carmen Dixon | carmen@mountviewcomms.com | +44 (0)7717 278846

Rachel Levy | novacredit@v2comms.com