BDI Report

Business Debt Index and Consumer Default Index Reports

Experian Business Debt Overview Report

Experian SA in partnership with Econometrix, a leading South African economics research unit, publishes the Experian Business Debt Risk Overview report on a quarterly basis.

The report consists of three main sections: the Experian Business Debt Index (BDI), a macro-economic overview and a sectoral debt analysis.

The report provides a concise international and domestic macro-economic overview, highlighting selected indicators and a forecast of key variables of the South African economy and its nine major sectors (namely agriculture, mining, manufacturing, electricity, construction, trade, transport, finance and services). A more detailed analysis of the debt situation in each sector (with regard to debtors’ days, the age categories of debt, judgments and liquidations) are included in the report.

The Experian BDI is an indication of how the players in the business community in South Africa are settling their credit arrangements with suppliers – it is a reflection of the overall position of debt settlement between businesses in the economy.

The report provides clients with meaningful insight to the South African economic climate supporting them in the development of their organisation strategy.

Experian Business Debt Index (BDI)

Experian SA and Econometrix launched South Africa’s first ever Business Debt Index (BDI) in February 2014. The Experian BDI is a vital and unprecedented benchmark for the interpretation of the state of business’s debt-paying abilities. It is an indicator of the overall health of businesses, as well as the South African economy.

It measures the relative ability for businesses to pay outstanding creditors on time and tracks macro-economic indicators that can impact on the ability of companies to pay their creditors. A number of debtors and macro-economic variables are combined into a single indicator of business debt stress. 

The Experian BDI will be published on a quarterly basis.

Experian Consumer Default Index

Experian Consumer Default Index Overview Report

The Experian Consumer Default Index (CDI) is designed to measure rolling default behaviour of South African consumers with Home Loan, Vehicle Loan, Personal Loan and Credit Card accounts.

On a monthly basis, lenders typically classify their consumer accounts into one of several predetermined payment categories to reflect the level of arrears. When a lender deems the statement balance of a consumer account to be uncollectible due to being in arrears 90 or more days or statuses such as repossession, foreclosure, charge-off or write-off, the consumer account is said to be in default.

The index tracks the marginal default rate as it measures the sum of first-time (accounts that have never) defaulted balances as a percentage of the total sum of balances outstanding.

Published monthly with a 2-month lag, the CDI’s indices include a balance-weighted composite index as well as the 4-product specific sub-indices.

Each of the indices are also determined at Mosaic type level to provide further insight into the dynamics faced by specific consumer segments that are experiencing different stress due to macro forces such as unemployment, interest rate changes and economic growth.

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Case Studies

See how we've helped businesses to improve their processes.

The Integration of Hunter into the core of African Bank's unsecured lending business resulted in  significant improvements in their Fraud Risk detection & prevention ability. 

Experian's top-performing Regulatory Analytics team enabled the National Bank of Malawi to achieve full IFRS9 compliance within three months. 

The adoption of FraudNet has contributed to a significant reduction in losses from charge backs and card not present fraud. 

Analytics, data hygiene and Mosaic insight put Jaguar Land Rover on the road to greater success across South Africa.