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:

1. Monitor Your Credit: Regularly check your credit report to stay on top of your financial health and improve your financial outcomes.
2. Understand BNPL: Be aware of the implications of using “buy now, pay later” services and manage these payments responsibly to avoid debt.
3. Focus on Financial Literacy: Educate yourself about financial management, including budgeting, saving, and investing, to enhance your financial well-being.

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.

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:

• informing and building customer personas
• information and insights that can help shape marketing strategies and messaging
• sizing and targeting audiences

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.

*For more information: *

• Explore and demo CAMEO
• Read the Ultimate Unified Identity eBook Today's Data-Savvy Marketers Need

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.

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:
[* A Compelling Human and Economic Case for Transforming How We Understand Consumer Vulnerability

* Open Banking: Unlock the Potential of Your 2024 Customer Strategy

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.

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

• Harriet Sloan, Head of UK Fraud and Identity Consulting and Analytics, TransUnion
• Glyn Cowlishaw, Head of UK Fraud and Identity Pre-Sales, TransUnion
• Devon Smith, Director of Strategic Growth, NeuroID

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.

Using our recently published e-book Data Breach for Businesses as a starting point, Mark quizzes George on the current cyber threats facing businesses and what processes and resources need to be considered when building a robust data breach plan. Additionally, George identifies some of the common mistakes businesses make in their response actions. Key talking points in this podcast revolve around reputation management, supporting consumers and the timeframe you have to act within.

We’ve recorded this podcast to provide a blueprint for professionals who are responsible for their organisation's data breach plan. The episode offers an in-depth explanation of what resources, teams and services go into making a robust data breach response. For those working in the industry and familiar with the topic, it can either validate your approach or offer nuggets of new and useful information. And for those tasked with developing a plan from scratch, it can hopefully provide a template for you to follow as you begin to document your process.