TransUnion Business Insights

In this episode, James O’Donnell, Director of Research at TransUnion UK, and Aukse Pringle, Senior Consultant in the Data and Analytics team, delve into the key learnings from their research over the past year and look ahead to future trends. They discuss emerging trends such as vulnerability, regulatory pressures, and the impact of “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) on consumers. They also highlight significant findings on gender and financial behaviour, noting that 75% of disposable income is now controlled by women, which has implications for product creation and marketing strategies.

Additionally, they analyse UK consumer savings rates, which dropped from 30% during COVID to 6% in 2022, with a recent increase indicating improving financial positions. The importance of financial literacy is emphasised, showing that consumers who monitor their credit tend to achieve better financial outcomes. They also observe that Gen Z is less engaged with credit compared to a decade ago, likely due to recent economic crises. Finally, they provide insights into BNPL usage, revealing that it is utilised by a diverse range of consumers, not just the young or financially distressed. Join James and Aukse as they explore these topics and share their passion for data and analytics.

Here are some actionable takeaways from this episode:

In this episode, Caroline Fowler, Director of Product and Presales at TransUnion UK, engages in a deep-dive discussion with Matt Richardson, Senior Fraud Specialist at TransUnion UK, and Thomas Purton, Senior Product Manager at Bud. Together, they explore how exceptional customer experience (CX) strategies can help brands cultivate trusted, longer lasting and more profitable customer relationships.

The panel delves into what consumers truly value and how these insights can be harnessed to create better experiences across the entire customer lifecycle, from originations through to onboarding, retention and engagement.

Join us as we discuss the CX trends to look out for in 2025, delve into the tools organisations are leveraging to create cutting-edge digital experiences, and provide you with actionable strategies to enhance your customer experience and drive business success.

Want more CX insights? Download our guide Begin new relationships, deepen existing ones to uncover more in-depth insights into how you can transform you customer experience to elevate customer relationships and achieve sustainable growth.

In this episode, Josh Gunnell, Director E-commerce and Partnerships, sits down with Ayelet Palmore, Director of Product Marketing for Marketing Solutions business at TransUnion in the US, to discuss how cutting-edge insights can inform marketing data strategies and influence campaigns.

With a wealth of adtech experience acqired from client-side and agency roles and a deep knowledge of the marketing ecosystem, Ayelet is currently responsible for bringing TransUnion's marketing products to market in the US and is well placed to offer an experts perspective on how data can be best leveraged as part of a marketing strategy.

The main focus of this episode is CAMEO, TransUnion’s geodemographic and audience segmentation marketing tool and the consumer insights it offers marketers. Recently rebuilt for UK businesses, CAMEO (and similar solutions) can add value to marketing and brand teams through multiple use cases including:

Further talking points include how first or third-party data and cutting-edge technology can help messages be delivered to the right audience at the right time throughout the campaign lifecycle, the rapid changes occurring in the adtech space (with Ayelet providing an insight into both what is happening in the US market and globally) and an explanation of what good quality, future-proofed data looks like.

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Caroline Fowler, Director of Product – Consumer Interactive, TransUnion, holds the mic for this episode and is joined by colleagues, Dennis Bishop and Glyn Cowlishaw. Dennis is an expert in credit data, whilst Glyn advises our customers on fraud and identity solutions.

The show starts with a discussion of Credit Week (Credit Strategy's new flagship event) which took place this June. Each contributor picks out their own highlight from the event and explains why this example resonated with them. The conversation moves on to the development of data solutions attuned to current consumer and business needs. Glyn talks about the spikes we are seeing in different fraud types (as documented in our 2024 Omnichannel Fraud Report) and the opportunity to educate consumers better around fraud risk and online safety. Dennis discusses the current economic situation, consumer sentiment and advances in affordability data in the form of trended affordability and how that helps businesses tailor their approach to individual consumers.

We wrap by shining a lens on product innovation. We explore how NPD can create more good consumer outcomes during the lending experience and how fraud and identity solutions (such as document verification and biometrics) can help businesses keep pace with criminals and authenticate more good customers vs stopping the fraudsters and support streamlined reauthentication processes that strengthen the customer experience.

Our Omnichannel Fraud Report 2024 combines insights from TransUnion’s global device database (that uses intelligence from billions of transactions originating from over 40,000 websites and apps to protect digital transactions) with consumer research.

With contributions from fraud and identity experts, the report offers readers a unique and insightful perspective into the volumes of risky transactions occurring within different industries and the activities employed by fraudsters both in the UK and globally. Alongside this are observations and commentary on approaches and solutions that can counter these threats.

To pick over some of the key trends and themes identified, host Harriet Sloan (Head of Fraud Analytics at TransUnion UK) sits down with Tony Sales (Co-Founder and Head of Innovation at We Fight Fraud) and** Nick Dumonde (Head of Market Strategy – Insurance at TransUnion UK).**

Tony - formerly ‘Britain's greatest fraudster’ - is a leading authority on social engineering, fraud and cybercrime and offers a unique perspective into the world of fraud and scam prevention. He has seen how criminals have moved from targeting businesses to consumers and the influence economic conditions have had on vulnerable consumers. Topics covered include the black market for ghost broking and insurance fraud, the danger money muling poses to the financially vulnerable, the importance of effectively educating consumers to spot scams and the threats posed and solutions offered by emerging technology including artificial intelligence.

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Ever wondered what type of consumer data points could have a transformative impact on transactions between consumers and businesses?

In this episode Gareth Howell, Head of Data Solutions at TransUnion in the UK, talks with Helen Lord, CEO of the Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS) about the power of new types of consumer insights, the evolution of the data ecosystem and the regulatory drive to improve customer outcomes.

A non-profit organisation, VRS was established in 2016 and allows individuals with different vulnerability types (both financial and non-financial) to self-register issues such as financial vulnerability (for example an ‘unpaid carer’ flag), physical disabilities or addictions (including drugs and gambling), and appends that information to files with actions, such as requesting lenders decline them for credit, or informing a provider that they need more support for access to products or services (circumstances in this scenario could include impaired sight or hearing).

Gareth and Helen discuss why understanding behaviours and vulnerabilities that are typically ‘unseen’ when making credit decisions has the potential to create better outcomes for consumers and businesses, and walk through how this can be turned into reality.

We close with Gareth signposting his keynote at Credit Week (June 17-19, 2024). Credit Week is a key event for industry leaders to come together and discuss their latest challenges and emerging topics, shape opinion, and share and learn from best practice examples. The agenda’s focus on consumer vulnerability aligns with innovative work TransUnion are doing with data, product development and consultancy work, and more broadly our commitment to using data and insights to drive financial inclusion and consumer empowerment.

Further reading:

In this episode, Mark Read, Head of Data Breach Solutions at TransUnion UK, talks to George Chaisty, a Partner at the international law firm Kennedys Law LLP, and Cameron Carr, Managing Partner for Mullen Coughlin, to get a better understanding of the current cyber threat landscape.

Off the back of a busy 2023 and with Mark attending February’s IAPP Data Protection Intensive 2024 event in London, the first part of this podcast reflects on the dominant and emerging methods being used by threat actors. Cameron, Mark and George use this scene setting as an entry point into the recent Royal United Services Institute, (RUSI) paper which explores the harms caused by ransomware to individuals, organisations and society.

RUSI is the world’s oldest and the UK’s leading defence and security think tank, and this document is an important industry talking point. Our experts discuss the psychological impact ransomware can have on individuals directly (first-order harms) and indirectly (secondary-order harms) and address key issues that businesses need to consider when mitigating a cyber incident that includes breach fatigue, impact on front line staff and customer care.

We wrap up with insights into what industry professionals can expect to see from threat actors in the coming year and identify the resources that will need to be carefully marshalled in response to these threats.

For more information on how your organisation can look to counter the threat of a data breach, download our dedicated ebook or get in touch with Mark directly.

Curious about the potential of credit education and monitoring tools to deliver richer, mutually beneficial relationships for consumers and financial service providers? This timely episode (recorded at the FUTURE Summit 2023) can help you get a better understanding of how the credit monitoring tools and features, a familiar characteristic of modern digital financial platforms, can engage and educate customers to make better credit decisions and build loyalty and trust.

In this podcast you'll hear from James Robinson, Managing Director of Consumer Interactive at TransUnion UK and Alex Cook, Product Manager at NewDay.

James and Alex share their stories and insights on why they embrace credit education and the important role it plays in supporting consumer financial well-being. Topics covered include:

Interested in cutting-edge FS solutions that can help improve customer outcomes and business performance? TransUnion have published a guide to our award-winning CreditView solution that's helping brands build next-gen financial services platforms. To get your copy** [head over to our landing page]**(https://www.transunion.co.uk/lp/creditview-ebook)

Data advancements have the potential to improve how well you know your customer and drive outstanding customer experiences and personalised services. With regulatory evolution, including the new Consumer Duty, and intense market competition, the right approach could unlock growth and be a unique selling point.

In this session, recorded at the TransUnion Summit 2023, Sam Welch (Commercial Banking Director, TransUnion) asks industry leaders from different sectors: How big is the gap between potential and reality, and what more can be done to get to know customers better?

Sam poses a set of questions on key topics to our panel of financial services SMEs, and elicits authentic insights on key challenges around an effective data strategy, how to design an advance customer experience and changing consumer attitudes and economic behaviour.

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Interested in cutting-edge FS solutions that can help improve customer outcomes and business performance? TransUnion have published a guide on new use cases for Open Banking and an overview on how TransUnion and Bud are building the next generation of Open Banking solutions. To get your copy, head over to our landing page.

With bad actors using sophisticated technology and PII they’ve amassed online, establishing trust and detecting risk is increasingly challenging. This episode, clipped from our panel discussion, 'A Modern Identity Crisis: How The Digital Age Blurs The Lines Between Trust, Risk and Authenticity' (at the TransUnion FUTURE Summit 2023) takes a deep dive into the latest fraud trends.

The panel was chaired by Chad Reimers, GM: Fraud and Identity Solutions, TransUnion UK, and featured:

Topics include emerging fincrime and cybercrime threats, such as no intent to pay, money mules, organised 3rd party fraud and targeted online attacks, and how consumer attitudes towards online crime are evolving. The panellists share the patterns they're seeing emerge across sectors and outline forward-thinking strategies that can help improve performance and enable businesses and consumers transact with confidence.

For more information on how TransUnion's TruValidate solution can help your business better detect and identify fraudulant activity visit our solution and product pages.