MANILA, Philippines — Five leading financial institutions in the Philippines have selected to partner with TransUnion, a global leader in credit and information management, and have launched the nation’s first international private credit bureau. This effort will help strengthen the financial system with increased access to credit for borrowers and reduced risk for lenders.

TransUnion has joined forces with Banco De Oro (BDO), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Citibank Philippines, HSBC, and Metrobank Card Corporation (a finance company) to centralize a credit information system and the collection and sharing of both positive and negative data.

“TransUnion is in the business of helping build strong economies around the world through the use of credit information and analytics. TransUnion sees tremendous potential within Philippines’ current financial infrastructure and it fits nicely with our strategic plan of expanding our presence within the region,” said Lawrence Tsong, president of Trans-Union East Asia.

We serve strong markets in Asia, including China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Thailand. In Hong Kong, TransUnion manages the first and only consumer credit reporting system which, over the years, has proven to be valuable in fueling the local economy.

“Combining local Philippine resources and data with TransUnion global experience and expertise, the Philippines is poised for potential greater economic growth in the future and TransUnion wants to be a part of that growth opportunity,” Mr. Tsong said.

During its first year in the Philippine market, TransUnion will provide a series of service offerings to benefit consumers and lenders, which will include consumer credit reports, portfolio reviews, automated Decisioning solutions, and basic fraud alerts. By 2015, TransUnion plans to offer expanded services, including fraud solutions, generic and custom scoring models, advanced decisioning services and data enrichment.

These services will also be made available to any qualified financial institution in the Philippines.