Who are we

Benefiting from the increase in international trade, world-wide businesses haves experienced substantial growth in recent years. As businesses grows so does the demand for business information, in particular, intelligence for cross-border business activities.
 
In 1973, some of the leading European credit information agencies joined forces to form the Federation of Business Information Services FEBIS (initially known as FECRO), with its registered office in Frankfurt. Today, FEBIS has developed into a sizable organisation comprising more than 80 full Members from all over the world involved in providing Business  Information and Debt Collection services both nationally and internationally.
Supported by a combined workforce of more than 30,000 employees, FEBIS Members generate over 1.3 trillion Business Information and Consumer reports annually for over 1.6 billion European organizations, providing these clients with invaluable business support.  Aggregate sales turnover of associate members is in excess of €12 Billionen.

As an industry association, FEBIS strives to look after the common interests of its members. While monitoring new legislation such as data protection laws and insolvency laws, FEBIS also over sees and the application of public sources of data and information.

Business failures in Western Europe reached a record high of 220,000 in the 1990s and while the early years from 2000 to 2007 showed a decline in Business Failures, 2008 showed a return to record levels once more.

Exporters are seeing more opportunities opening up in developing countries but as a consequence face the possibility of increased risk as they experience different legal requirements, regulations and economics conditions of these different jurisdictions. As such the demand for business information grows. A typical An examples is of this is the rapidly increasing need for reports on companies in Eastern Europe and South America.

Information relating to a company’s financial standing and ability to meet its obligations is a priority consideration for any business transaction. For FEBIS members, information gathering and storage is a purpose-oriented process. It is conducted with the highest level of professionalism, employing advanced technolog, to ensure high levels of accuracy, timeliness and coverage.

Clients may interrogate this business information on-line or by more conventional means.

Data is gathered from public sources, such as company registries, press and courts. This is complement by the agencies’ internal information gathering initiatives, such as direct interviews or payment pattern inputs from creditors. And To quantify business risks and ultimately help reduce bad debts, our member companies have developed individual analysis systems. Serving a critical role in today’s commercial world, business information companies are contributing to the well being and transparency of the overall economy.

FEBIS appoints a Data Compliance Committee to investigate any breach of compliance by any of its Members.