Financial information company Experian is hoping its new credit bureau will win business from Veda and Dun & Bradstreet by offering a more innovative approach to credit reporting. Experian launched an Australian consumer credit bureau yesterday and said it would have a commercial bureau up and running by the end of the year.The managing director of Experian Credit Services, Genevieve Julliard, said the company, which operates in 19 markets, would offer its customers better quality data and analytics.Experian has operated a decision analytics and marketing services business in Australia for 15 years and in 2011 it joined forces with six financial institutions to establish a consumer and business credit information service. Experian owns 76 per cent of Experian Australia Credit Services, while ANZ, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank, GE Capital, National Australia Bank and Westpac each own four per cent.The announcement of this structure created some controversy, with suggestions that the big banks would run Experian as a closed shop and refuse to share their credit data with other lenders.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took a look at the structure and gave it the all-clear. Julliard said: "We welcomed that process. The ACCC accepted that we had a financial relationship with our partners, but [that] they had no management influence. "Over the past two years, we have been building our data from a wide range of sources, and we have been out talking to the market and explaining what we were doing."Julliard said Experian has operated in markets that have changed from negative to comprehensive credit reporting regimes (which will happen in Australia next year). One of the skills it brings to the market is experience in transitioning. Julliard is a strong believer in comprehensive (or positive) credit reporting. Under the new scheme, credit files will have more data points and will give a better insight into how borrowers are managing their debt. "It will reduce the level of bad debts and it will increase the speed of credit applications, and some of the benefits should be passed on to consumers," she said.