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TORONTO – Equifax Inc. is launching a program to allow newcomers to transfer their foreign credit history to Canada.

The credit reporting company said Thursday that the Global Consumer Credit File will make it easier for immigrants to access services like loans and cellphone plans in Canada by providing the additional data.

“It’s really important when newcomers land that they get access to the financial services ecosystem, and without credit history that’s very difficult to do,” said Sue Hutchison, head of Equifax Canada.

“They’re typically looking to, you know, rent an apartment, get a mobile phone, probably a credit card, and all of those things require credit history. So not having it makes it very difficult for newcomers.”

Equifax isn’t the first to launch such a program in Canada. San Francisco-based Nova Credit, which launched in 2016 to provide global credit score access, expanded into Canada last year in a partnership with Scotiabank.

The company has since expanded with partnerships at RBC, BMO and Rogers Communications Inc., among others.

Nova Credit partners with several credit bureaus, including Equifax, to provide data from more than 20 countries. With Equifax becoming a competitor in the space, Hutchison said conversations are underway around data access going forward.

Equifax, which has operations or investment in 24 countries, will have the advantage of being the direct provider of data from its foreign bureaus, said Hutchison.

“It’s going be coming directly from us. So that’s, I think, very attractive to the lenders themselves that they’ll be dealing directly with the credit bureau.”

The program will initially provide data from India, but the plan is to extend it to Brazil, Argentina and Chile over the coming months. Longer-term, it plans to include 18 countries in total.

Equifax will use both the data from its own operations and source from other bureaus to provide the data.

Because countries have different ways of creating credit scores, Equifax plans to provide lenders a Canadian score, a global score and a calibrated blend of both.

The program comes as Canada has seen elevated immigration in recent years, while Hutchison said Equifax’s now cloud-based platform also makes it easier to share the data securely.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024

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LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators slapped LinkedIn on Thursday with a 310 million euro ($335 million) fine for violations of the bloc’s stringent data privacy rules.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission reprimanded the Microsoft-owned professional social networking site over concerns about the “lawfulness, fairness and transparency” of its personal data processing for advertising purposes.

The Dublin-based watchdog is LinkedIn’s lead privacy regulator in the 27-nation EU because that’s where the company’s European headquarters is based.

The watchdog said it carried out an investigation that found LinkedIn did not have a lawful basis to gather data so it could target users with online ads, which is a breach of the privacy rules known as General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. It ordered LinkedIn to comply with the rules.

Processing personal data “without an appropriate legal basis is a clear and serious violation” of the right to data protection in the EU, Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement.

LinkedIn said it that while it believes it has been “in compliance” with the rules, it’s working to ensure its “ad practices” meet the requirements.

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TORONTO – Cineplex has filed an appeal of a record $38.9-million fine for deceptive marketing practices imposed against it by the Competition Tribunal.

The company says it has filed a notice of appeal with the Federal Court of Appeal.

It also says that with the consent of the Competition Bureau it is bringing a motion to request a stay of the fine pending completion of the appeal. Cineplex says it has been granted an interim stay until the motion is heard by the Appeal Court.

The penalty was part of a decision the tribunal issued in September that saw it side with the Competition Bureau, which accused Cineplex of misleading theatregoers by not immediately presenting them with the full price of a movie ticket when they bought seats online.

Cineplex began charging an $1.50 online booking fee in June 2022 to many customers not enrolled in its CineClub subscription and Scene Plus loyalty programs, which saw the fee waived and dropped to $1, respectively. It’s a practice known as drip pricing.

Cineplex has denied the accusations, saying moviegoers are promptly told about fees they may face and can avoid them all together by purchasing seats in-person at a theatre.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

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