Experian is a Credit Reference Agency (CRA) operating in the UK financial system, responsible for collecting and distributing credit information on individuals and businesses. It plays a central role in enabling credit assessments by maintaining large-scale datasets submitted by participating institutions, including banks, lenders, and utility providers.

Experian maintains and provides access to several restricted datasets that are used by regulated entities for credit decisioning and financial risk analysis. Two of the most significant are CAIS and CATO:

CAIS (Credit Account Information Sharing) is a reciprocal data-sharing arrangement in which participating organisations submit detailed records of credit accounts. This includes data on balances, payment history, arrears, defaults, and account status. Both consumer and commercial credit accounts are covered. Lenders use CAIS to assess existing liabilities and past repayment behaviour.

CATO (Current Account Turnover) contains anonymised current account data that shows income and expenditure activity over time. This dataset is drawn from participating banks and provides insight into cashflow patterns, financial stability, and potential indicators of financial stress. CATO is particularly relevant for assessing affordability and forecasting future financial behaviour.

Experian is subject to regulatory oversight under the UK’s data protection and financial services frameworks. Organisations that access Experian’s datasets must be authorised and meet eligibility requirements. Data accuracy, update frequency, and usage rights are governed by data sharing agreements and industry codes of conduct.

The data provided by Experian is used across a range of applications, including credit risk modelling, affordability assessments, fraud detection, and regulatory compliance. It is important to note that credit reference agencies do not make lending decisions; they supply data that lenders interpret within their own risk frameworks.