We live in a world of geopolitical and economic changes and exponential technological transformations. In this disruptive scenario, credit is once again anchored in its root principle, from the Latin Credere: Trust.
ANBC, Brazilian Credit Bureau Association, has participated in several local and international events in which Trust has emerged as a recurring theme in discussions about technology, regulation and behaviours.
Before any contract, approved limit or consulted report, there is an essential question: can I trust this information and this process to make a fair, safe and responsible decision? In the past, this Trust was built on history, documentation, and controls. Today, it must integrate data, credit reports, analytical models, artificial intelligence tools, and agents capable of operating with context, accountability, and transparency.
The credit ecosystem is experiencing a profound transition. More data, by itself, is insufficient to generate greater trust. Trust arises when data is accurate, timely, secure, auditable, understandable and used for legitimate purposes. In the credit sector, information security is no longer just a technical control; it has become a systemic issue of public trust, governance, and institutional accountability.
In Brazil, the range of positive data highlights this dimension. The credit bureaus’ database gathers wide variety of information, from different natures, such as judicial data, agribusiness, Open Finance, Positive Data, telecommunications, retail, Central Bank, data from commercial registries, notary offices and registration. This diversity expands the ability to assess risk, include consumers and companies, and reduce asymmetries.
The scale reinforces this responsibility. We already have about 2 billion operations in the Positive Data and more than 179 million consumers and companies included in a national database infrastructure.
The flow between credit reporting, AI, plain language, and financial education indicates a promising path. This development is set to transform models into reliable systems. At a recent event in Asia, Forrester highlighted the shift from a ‘data-driven’ approach to a ‘knowledge-driven’ one: data is raw facts; knowledge is structured understanding of behaviours, patterns, journeys and decisions. For credit, this distinction is crucial. Data informs; knowledge guides. A report describes; a model explains.
With AI agents, responsibility increases. Agents can not only answer questions, but also reason, plan, execute, monitor and learn from feedback. This capability requires governance right from the design stage: minimising errors, secure processing, auditing, version control, human oversight and transparency regarding the limits of AI. Innovation in AI and data security must go hand in hand.
A new layer also emerges: Trust Intelligence. The traditional question was, “Does this person exist?” Later, the credit sector began to ask: ” Is this person creditworthy?” Now, in the face of synthetic identities, network fraud, and real-time digital decisions, the question becomes, “Can this identity be trusted before exposure?” This shift repositions credit bureaus from historical data providers to trusted partners capable of supporting financial inclusion, fraud prevention and more secure decision-making.
The future of credit will be defined by the Trust architecture that we manage to build between bureaus, data sources, associations, regulators, financial institutions, companies and consumers. Trust, after all, is a collective effort and also depends on the cultural lens of each society.
The responsible credit of the future will be technology-driven and deeply human in its purpose, enabling better information to lead better decisions, better decisions to expand access, and access to credit to strengthen citizenship, social welfare, entrepreneurship and economic development.
All of this becomes possible through conscious human participation, acting across internal and external technological systems while engaging multiple actors, including companies, individuals, legislators, regulators, economic sectors, and social communities. The challenge is to align purpose and expectations while coordinating each move so that it contributes meaningfully to the desired outcome.
This role is often invisible, and today we increasingly describe it as orchestration. Traditionally, orchestration evokes the image of a maestro conducting an orchestra according to a defined score. In my view, however, the exponential speed of change and the uncertainty of direction demand a different model.
The evolution of credit today resembles a jazz ensemble more than a classical orchestra. There is leadership, and there is also improvisation, listening, adaptation, and constant interaction among the players in a harmonic co-creation. The jazz pianist can guide the movement, and the music is being created collectively as it is played. In the same way, the future of credit is more than simply being executed according to a predetermined sheet music — it is being co-created continuously through the interaction of technology, institutions, people, regulation, data, and society, with Trust as the foundation that gives coherence to the entire performance.
Author: Elias Sfeir
Executive President of ANBC – Brazilian Association of Credit Bureaus. Representative of Latin America in the World Bank Credit Committee. He also represents Brazil and Latin America in credit organisations accross the world, such as ACCIS, BIIA and ALACRED.
Source: ANBC (supplied)
