Credit bureau Equifax has bolstered the commercial credit side of its business with the acquisition of Creditworks, which describes itself as a global provider of search and reporting products on business entities.

Equifax acquired a 51 per cent stake in Creditworks in 2018 and has now moved to full ownership.

Equifax executive general manager customer and solutions, Moses Samaha, said in a statement: “The acquisition addresses the needs of the trade credit and SME sector, as it enables better management of credit risk through an online credit application process, workflow and decisioning solution.”

Creditworks services include ASIC search, Personal Property Securities Register search and registering, data matching, building industry bureau reports and property information and titles

It also offers automated credit application and decisioning and a credit management platform.

Samaha said: “Managing commercial credit risk and bringing new suppliers on board can be challenging for SMEs. The combined Equifax and Creditworks solution makes this a streamlined process.”