TORONTO -

Two well-known names in the financial services arena in Canada will continue to collaborate.

Equifax Canada recently announced that it has extended a long-standing partnership with FICO to distribute FICO scores to lenders and other businesses in Canada.

Building on a partnership of nearly 30 years, the companies highlighted that the agreement renews a commitment that the two firms will continue working together to develop new innovative analytic solutions for the Canadian market.

As part of this renewed agreement, credit scores which have been previously distributed under the brand name BEACON, will now be delivered under the FICO brand name as FICO scores based on Equifax data. FICO Score 8 based on Equifax Data, which was previously called BEACON 9.0, will continue to leverage Equifax mortgage data. It will also continue to provide substantial improvement in predictive power compared to prior scores.

“Our continued relationship with FICO underscores Equifax Canada’s dedication to delivering innovative insights to the Canadian market,” said Lisa Nelson, president of Equifax Canada.

“The FICO score has served Canadian customers well, and continuing to offer it as part of our product suite ensures we are providing a comprehensive selection of scores that empower our customers to make better business decisions,” Nelson continued.

Kevin Deveau, vice president and managing director for FICO Canada, added, “The extension of this agreement ensures that the Canadian market will continue to benefit from one of the most predictive, trusted credit scoring tools for risk management.

“The FICO score is a critical part of the lending process in Canada,” Deveau went on to say.

Earlier this year, FICO released findings from a global study that uncovered seven trends about Canadians and auto financing. A pair of FICO experts elaborated about the findings in the episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast that’s available at the end of this report.