COVID-19 resources and support

Across all sectors, consumer demand is set to suffer as social distancing and low confidence lead to a big drop in discretionary spending - especially for big ticket items like recreation, leisure and travel. But despite the short-term challenges, we believe that by working together, and bringing you powerful data and tools, we can help you and your customers come back stronger, more secure and ready for a brighter future. In our latest report we cover a host of key steps that can be taken to help safeguard commercial resilience.

All sources now point towards a global downturn. But its actual severity and length are yet to be fully assessed. Independent analysis suggests global growth in 2020 is expected to fall within a range of -0.5% and -1.5% - although the anticipated impact to individual economies maybe higher. Elsewhere, significant vulnerabilities to the financial system have been highlighted, which could lead to amplified turbulence. Our new report, Business resilience in the banking sector, offers a host of key insights and recommended routes to success.

Lockdown life has created a sudden shift in the needs and desires of businesses and consumers. Now more than ever, it has become clear just how vital Telco services are to the growth and survival of business during a time when employees are working from home – and stay-at-home consumers have an appetite to get access to an even wider range of TV, streaming, entertainment and gaming offerings. Our new report Business resilience in the telco sector, offers a host of key sector insights.

In common with many sectors, retailers face acute challenges. The nature, horizon and scale of the impact will depend on the type of goods or services offered. Essential spending on food, drinks, or healthcare are expected to grow. But at the other end of the spectrum, it’s feared other segments within the sector could be fatally weakened. To mitigate, governments are also stepping in by aggressively slashing lending rates, introducing payment holidays or sizable bailouts for some. Online retail is already booming and is likely to grow even more as consumers spend less time in public. The general retail market will continue to shift sales on-line. Sizeable gains in e-commerce delivery services for grocers and restaurants are also anticipated.

Compared to many other sectors, the outlook for utilities looks more favourable. Consumers will continue to need utilities services. While the consumer utilities demand may increase, the revenue is likely to stay flat given many prices have fallen by up to 20% compared to pre-crisis levels. The situation for business customers may be more bearish in nature. Many businesses have significantly reduced demand for utilities. Some business customers’ utility bills will decrease by 90% or more as they shut down. Overall, the utility revenues from businesses, and hence the overall revenues for utility companies, are sharply down with the prospect of the situation remaining so for some months to come. But there are actions to mitigate the impact.

Despite the solvency of European insurers being regarded as generally sound, it’s expected exposure levels, provisioning, capital requirements and profitability will be a challenge. Insurers’ operations will also be influenced by rising risk across the whole economy, increasing numbers of claims, as well as new regulations aimed at mitigating the impact of the economic downturn. Life insurance, travel, health and specialists handling high-value risks are particularly exposed. Re-insurers are also expected to be affected and are projected to show a decline in their credit quality.

The challenging economic climate is set to impact the predictive power of existing analytical models. Find out the what the likely implications are and the key actions to take, to help safeguard your customers and your business.

Lenders across the globe are adopting new approaches to identifying at-risk MSMEs by implementing flexible strategies to support the sector.  Despite the short-term challenges, we believe that by working together, and bringing you a powerful combination of data and tools, we can help you and your MSME customers.

Banking and lending operations are directly influenced by increased credit, market and operational risks, as well as new regulatory and government measures.  Priorities are now being carefully balanced between mitigating against economic challenges, while recalibrating business processes for the future. We believe that by working together and bringing you a powerful combination of data and tools, we can help you and your customers.

Right now, focus is directed at assessing the impact of economic challenges on debt levels and collections processes. But the potential for new lending is also emerging as several sectors continue to thrive, or as stimulus packages now offer opportunities. Despite the challenges, we believe that by working together, bringing you powerful data and tools, we can help you and your customers.

Banks and lenders are playing a significant role in helping customers increase the use of digital and remote channels, by driving rapid transition from traditional branch-based operations to an online one. But there is still plenty of room for the expansion of digital channels by opening up and extending services to even more users. We believe that by working together, and bringing you powerful data and tools, we can help you and your customers.

Digital interaction is becoming our default operating mechanism. Adoption of digital channels is on the rise - but it comes with significantly increased exposure to fraud and risk to both consumers and businesses. Identity trust and the related risk to individuals are now central to any digital business model. But many organisations have gaps in their digital transformation strategy. While some are able to adapt, many are struggling. We can help you quickly meet the needs of your customers.

We observe what Global Covid-19 trends we've seen in other markets that we can learn from and what early consumer credit trends we are observing in the South African market. We also focus on the impact this has had on the Credit Bureau and how we are responding. 

We consider what the credit activity look like in week 2 and how we are addressing the risk of increased fraud during this time.

We continue to review what the credit activity look like in week 3 and what trends we are observing in the SME market by industry overview.

We review what the credit activity look like in week 4 and we specifically focus on our Experian Sub-Saharan African footprint and the early consumer trends we are observing.

A look at a new normal. Will traditional lending practices withstand the Covid-19 crisis or are we witnessing a structural change in the South African credit industry? 

The Experian Consumer Default Index (CDI) is designed to measure rolling default behaviour of South African consumers with Home Loan, Vehicle Loan, Personal Loan, Credit Card and Retail Loan accounts. 

Deepening economic recession confirmed by a sharp decline in business debt conditions in the first quarter of 2020.