Cortera Circles Recreates Century-Old Practice of "Credit Roundtables" Online

SAN FRANCISCO – Cortera®, the community-driven business credit bureau, today announced the launch of Cortera Circles™ — a new peer-to-peer (P2P) credit risk and payment information tool for finance and credit professionals to share data in real time.  This new platform for business-to-business (B2B) risk management, which recreates the century old practice of “credit circles” as an online experience, is designed to tear down barriers that to date have limited companies’ ability to assess credit risks for small, mid-sized and even large businesses.  The announcement was made today at FinovateSpring 2010, the financial technology innovations conference in San Francisco, in a presentation by Cortera President & CEO, Jim Swift.

“The B2B credit market needs to evolve to a P2P model for risk management and finally say goodbye to the 1970’s centralized information broker,“ said Swift.  “In bringing the trusted tradition of “credit circles” into the online world, Cortera is creating a new and more efficient paradigm for different companies, even competitors, to exchange vital payment information on their customers and suppliers.”

Cortera’s Web-based technology is built to provide the full range of business intelligence and financial information that companies have come to expect. The company’s solutions provide new capabilities and cost savings for large enterprises, while providing small businesses with solutions they can access and afford.

“While Dun & Bradstreet introduced electronic credit reports for business in 1972, there unfortunately hasn’t been sufficient innovation in the business credit reporting industry since then,” Swift continued. “We aim to change that and are tapping the ground swell of information, statistics and anecdotal experience from millions of small businesses who have previously not been given the opportunity to share valuable insights that can lead to better informed credit decisions.”

Cortera Circles are online groups of trusted peers who share their payment experience about businesses with which they interact.  Circles mark the latest extension of Cortera’s credit-centric social networking approach that gives credit pros, finance staff and business owners the ability to:

• Find and join Circles based on location, industry or common trading partners
• Build new Circles with peers who have shared interests in determining who pays on time and who doesn’t
• Pose questions about – and seek references for – potential or existing trading partners as well as their recent payment behavior
• Assist peers by answering questions about trading partners with which you have direct experience

The introduction of Cortera Circles is designed to meet the needs of members of the Cortera community looking to expand their network of trusted, vetted and “on the ground” sources for the latest information, before they extend credit.  

“Having participated in traditional credit groups throughout my over 20 year career in business credit, I’m really excited to hear about the availability of Cortera Circles,” said Norma Fetherman, Chief Credit Officer, at Allied Building Products Corp. “Traditional credit groups have enabled us to exchange highly relevant payment information we can’t get anywhere else, but are only limited to meeting a handful of times a year.  We look forward to Cortera Circles giving us the same great insights we exchange in our offline industry group meetings, but now directly from an expanded network of our peers, any time we need it.”

Business credit information exchanges started as community roundtables over 100 years ago.  Credit circles date back to boards of trade when business owners gathered locally to share information about their customers and suppliers in order to protect each other from risk.  

“We think Cortera Circles will transform the industry of business credit into something far more powerful and exciting, namely, the place online where businesses talk about other businesses and the bottom line,” said Swift.

In addition to expanding the existing online community with Cortera Circles, Cortera is bolstering its offerings to its growing customer base of many enterprise level companies and Fortune 1000 global brands, including Chevron, Cisco, and Electrolux.  

About Cortera
Cortera is the online source for commercial credit information and financial intelligence on over 20 million businesses of every size. The company has a 15-year track record of providing comprehensive data and innovative tools to credit and finance professionals at the most affordable prices in the industry. In 2009, Cortera created the first online community enabling everyone — from small businesses to large organizations — to monitor, rate and exchange information on the payment performance of virtually any business in real time. Cortera is unleashing the power of the Internet to transform the world of business credit reporting. Free credit reports on millions of businesses are now available at www.cortera.com. Check Cortera First™.