Focus on current market trends such as artificial intelligence and ESG criteria - Interview with Dr. Frank Schlein, CEO of CRIF GmbH

Good afternoon, Dr. Schlein. Could you briefly introduce yourself and CRIF?

Dr. Frank Schlein: I have been CEO at CRIF for the business region Germany, Austria and Poland since May 1, 2020. I am responsible for expanding the market position as well as accelerating the growth of the CRIF Group in the different country markets. I have over 20 years of experience in risk and address management. During this time I have been, for example, managing director of various service companies in the fields of financial services, data management and direct marketing.

CRIF is one of the leading information service providers on the German market and supports companies and financial institutions in managing their Digital Customer Journey. Thanks to our three focus areas, our customers benefit from integrated identity, credit risk and fraud management as well as innovative solutions in the areas of digital onboarding, open banking, compliance, ESG, address discovery and marketing services.

CRIF Germany is part of the globally active CRIF Group with headquarters in Bologna. In total, almost 6,500 employees* work for CRIF worldwide in 40 countries.

Let's take a look at the trendy topic of Environmental Social Governance (ESG) criteria. CRIF offers its own solution, SYNESGY. Can you briefly describe it?

Dr. Frank Schlein: The topic has reached the public and decision-makers have recognized the urgency of the need for change. Therefore, it is now enormously important to create the legal basis for ESG-compliant business. This is the only way to achieve a sustainable impact that will actually bring us closer to the climate goals. When it comes to implementation, holistic action is the key factor; there must be collaborative thinking. One alone cannot achieve much. The CRIF Group shares this collective approach and has developed a globally networked solution based on it, which has already been rolled out in several countries. This is based on a platform and makes it possible to evaluate companies according to ESG criteria in a simple and rule-compliant way and to make this information accessible. This PaaS (Platform as a Service) approach is the solution for financial institutions and companies in other sectors. Through the initial ESG evaluation online via the ESG platform, companies receive their ESG certificate, which is retrievable for the obligated request. This is largely automated and reduces the administrative effort on the part of companies to a one-time certification valid for all requests. In addition, an annual review and issuance of the ESG certificate ensures that the information is up to date. As a neutral platform, CRIF connects the many requesting institutions and companies with ESG-certified companies. In this context, the development of the ESG platform was started with the ambition to establish a new standard that is compliant with the rules and that enables all parties involved to do business in a sustainable and socially responsible manner. After all, technology should not serve an end in itself.

The topic of artificial intelligence is also on everyone's lips. What is your fascination with AI?

Dr. Frank Schlein: Artificial intelligence and learning systems can improve the lives of many people and companies if they are used correctly. Artificial intelligence is no longer just the future, but already part of everyday life. And this is also where my fascination with AI comes in. At CRIF, we integrate AI in various areas. Especially in the area of fraud, it is difficult to forecast from the past into the future. Fraudsters are always trying new approaches to succeed. Wherever a large amount of data needs to be processed and for fast-moving phenomena, the value of AI is high because it increases the discriminatory power of the forecasts. For example, we have developed a solution that combines risk and fraud prevention, combining best practice rules, fraud pattern recognition and artificial intelligence.

What do you want to move with AI?

Dr. Frank Schlein: We want to deliver real added value to our customers through our AI-based solutions. We differentiate between customized and generic solutions for specific use cases or industries.
The individual solutions are of particular interest to customers who are seeking or looking for further optimization and support in the areas of identity verification, credit assessment and fraud. In this area, there is a joint consideration of data as well as the development of models and analytical methods. In e-commerce or digital business (digital goods), certain phenomena generally occur, for example, in the issue of identity fraud. There are then also use cases that benefit from our generic AI solutions.
The selection of the AI methodology, whether via neural networks, tree bosting or random forest is done with regard to the added value for our customers and the respective use case.

Thank you very much for the interview.

About CRIF GmbH

As one of the leading information service providers on the German market, CRIF supports companies & financial institutions holistically in managing their Digital Customer Journey. Thanks to our three focus areas, you benefit from integrated Identity, Credit Risk and Fraud Management as well as innovative solutions in the areas of Digital Onboarding, Open Banking, Compliance, ESG, Address Discovery and Marketing Services.

CRIF Germany is part of the globally active CRIF Group, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The group is active today with over 6,200 experts and 80+ companies in 40+ countries on four continents.

Questions for CRIF?

Would you like to know more about CRIF? The contact persons at CRIF are at your disposal:

Jessica Reimer
Human Resources Manager Talent Acquisition
J.Reimer∂crif.com

Partner network KIT-Faculty of Economic Sciences

As a faculty partner,CRIF is a member of the partner network of the KIT Faculty of Economics. Students have the opportunity to get in contact with CRIF at events, workshops or excursions as well as to gain insights into the daily business life of the company. For more information about the partner network, please click here.