AFR Street Talk today: Comprehensive credit reporting looms as a...

AFR Street Talk today:

Comprehensive credit reporting looms as a major issue in assessing Equifax's $2.3 billion offer for Veda and the chances of a rival suitor emerging.
Comprehensive credit reporting looms as a major issue in assessing Equifax's $2.3 billion offer for Veda and the chances of a rival suitor emerging.
CCR was legislated in March 2014 and allows lenders to share information about individuals' accounts and how they meet their repayments.
Veda is expected to reap significant upside from its introduction over coming years and the company is understood to believe Equifax's $2.70 a share offer does not take this into account.
The market is awaiting Veda's formal response to the offer but Street Talk understands the two parties are still negotiating on the adviser level.
The $US15.6 billion London Stock Exchange-listed Experian has been touted as a potential interloper but its Australian arm is 24 per cent owned by banks including ANZ Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank , Westpac Banking Corp , GE Capital and Citibank.
This would make it difficult for Experian's parent to make a play for Veda.
US firm Dun & Bradstreet would be another potential Veda suitor but it sold its local arm to Archer Capital in June for $220 million, while fellow US groups TransUnion and CoreLogic may also have a look.
CCR was introduced in the UK between 1985 and 1995 and drove strong revenue growth for Equifax during that period. The company said in its 2014 annual report its European growth was still largely driven by CCR, as the information was sold into new vertical markets.
Hong Kong introduced CCR in 2003 and the number of credit reports accessed quadrupled in the following two years.
But Veda will face competition for the CCR revenue pie.
CLSA analyst Naveen Patney and his team reckon competition risks for Veda are underestimated by the market.
Patney said Experian Australia and Dun & Bradstreet had lowered barriers to entry in the consumer credit bureau sector and that banks were empowering Veda's rivals by giving them more access to data.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is assessing an agreement between the banks, which would ensure all CCR data goes to every credit bureau. This would protect their Experian investment and ensure they weren't beholden to Veda.