CRIF, established in Bologna (Italy) in 1988 and leader in continental Europe in the field of banking credit information, today announced the acquisition of the Italian branch of Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) - the world’s leading player of business information. D&B was established in 1841 and is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange, with a presence in Italy since the late 1960s. Today it operates in Italy with approximately 230 personnel, more than 4,500 customers and with a database containing information on over 4 million Italian businesses.
This acquisition is aimed at creating value for both CRIF and D&B customers, who will have the opportunity to benefit from the partnership in terms of quality: D&B has 167 years of experience in managing a global “database”, creating products with strong added value, designing decision systems and credit scoring models; all with the most comprehensive information database internationally, which today totals over 140 million businesses.
CRIF is already present in the business information sector through their website CRIBIS.it, which provides reports and information on any Italian business and on more than 50 million companies in 230 countries worldwide.
Carlo Gherardi, President and CEO of CRIF, commented: “The acquisition of D&B Italy by CRIF confirms our long-term growth strategy, based on greater investments in the business information sector and due to our desire to provide our customers and the market with constantly evolving in-depth information.”
“We believe that a synergy of services, as well as the know-how and experience of D&B – added Gherardi – will represent an extraordinary growth opportunity and the creation of CRIBIS D&B will accelerate our innovation strategy which is focused on the availability of business information on all Italian and worldwide companies, on value added information, data integration as well as decisioning systems. Through this acquisition we are certain of our ability to offer Italian companies more advanced and reliable solutions to help them reduce their exposure to credit risk and to manage their businesses in an efficient and effective way”.
Moreover, it is becoming clearer that to face the market with a winning approach, whether it is local or global, it is necessary to reach “critical mass” in order to maintain elevated levels of investment and to meet customer needs. This also applies to the Italian business information market, where the integration of CRIF and D&B Italy will guarantee an investment plan that responds efficiently to, and is in line with, customer needs, and follows a strategy of continual innovation that has always characterized CRIF.
This agreement between CRIF and D&B follows exclusively industrial objectives and will identify significant synergies able to service the Italian market as well as global D&B customers with the highest qualitative standards in terms of:
- Full coverage of all Italian businesses
- Accuracy and depth of information thanks to our expert team of specialized analysts
- Flexible technology that allows a timely response to both market and single requests
- The consolidated and long term experience of CRIF and D&B in the development of decision systems and scoring models.
D&B’s choice of partner is part of their long-held policy of strategic alliances in Europe and in the rest of the world, driven by the desire to guarantee their customers best–in-class quality for each individual market as well as a greater availability of information.
Likewise CRIF, already leader in credit information services, decision systems and software outsourcing for banks, financial institutions, insurances and utility companies, businesses, have selected D&B as a partner to reinforce their position in the business information sector.
