D&B UK Launches Anti-Money Laundering Report

D&B UK last month launched its Anti-Money Laundering Report, a one-stop shop for UK businesses who need to sign off on new AML legal requirements that go into effect on Dec. 15. The new D&B AML Report, which is available online 24/7, focuses entirely on providing customers need to know in order to comply with the new legislation.

The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 was created to help combat money laundering. Companies will be required by law to assess the risk posed by the companies they do business with and take measures to verify the identity of those companies and their beneficial owners.

The report contains: basic entity ID, sanctions lists check, stock exchange ticker files check, regulators lists check, director and beneficial owners, basic financials and corporate structure. Data for the report is from a variety of sources, such as global financial regulators, stock exchanges and global sanctions lists as well as D&B databases and country risk assessments.

D&B's target audience for the report includes credit and financial institutions, auditors, insolvency practitioners, external accountants and tax advisors, independent legal professionals, trust and company service providers and estate agents.

According to a press release announcing the launch, D&B worked with major global financial institutions to create the report to meet their specific needs related to the new legislation. Smart move: customers know exactly what they want and need from information service providers. By listening to them, you’re practically guaranteed to create a winning offering. The fact is, it's sometimes very difficult to understand exactly how customers use your product. Let them guide you; they will undoubtedly chart a successful course for your products and your company overall.

D&B also deserves credit for the timeliness of this launch. Getting the report in place online nearly two months before the legislation is effective was vital. This gives customers the opportunity to learn more about it and how it works before they actually need to utilize it. In addition, this is a perfect example of an information provider responding to a market's ever-changing data needs--which is especially key in the financial arena.

Kelley Blue Book, Carfax Integrate Services

Kelley Blue Book, which provides new- and used-vehicle information, announced this week that it has integrated Carfax vehicle history reports into its KARPOWER Online pricing, management and marketing solution. The integration of Carfax services into KARPOWER Online yields a more seamless solution for dealerships by enabling users to obtain used-vehicle history information without leaving the KARPOWER program.

Within KARPOWER Online, dealers can set up and access their Carfax account directly through KARPOWER Online. Dealers can have a Carfax report generated automatically through the KARPOWER Online system and they can view the entire report within KARPOWER.

Dealers can also now use the Kelley Blue Book and Carfax brands to market their used vehicles through a co-branded window sticker program. Highlights from the Carfax report are printed (in bullet points) on the sticker. In addition to the co-branded sticker, dealers can print a Carfax addendum sticker from KARPOWER Online to place next to a dealer's own sticker. According to the company, the most popular feature is the ability for users to customize and print Kelley Blue Book-branded window sticker and buyer's guides for either individual vehicles or a dealer's entire used car inventory.

KARPOWER Online offers dealer management system (DMS) polling, automated web export capabilities and other tools to help dealerships value, manage and market their used-vehicle inventories. KARPOWER Online also has access to 21 years of regionally adjusted Kelley Blue Book Retail, Wholesale and Trade-In Values and it offers a built-in VIN decoder in which dealers can input--instead of keying in information--to assess a vehicle.

Having two of the most well-known marketing brands in the automotive industry working together is certainly a good thing for their dealer customers and themselves. Separately, both Kelley Blue Book and Carfax have very strong brands that are recognized by dealers and consumer alike. But together, that brand name is further strengthened--and that will most likely help dealers sell more vehicles (at least that's what it's supposed to do).

But no program is worthwhile if it's not being used. By integrating the two into KARPOWER Online, both companies have increased the chances that dealers will use the system. These days, customers don't want to have to jump from one system to another. They want to have quick, seamless access to the products and services they need; if you make customers take too many steps to find what they're looking for, they'll find someone else who makes navigation easier. This should certainly become a winning proposition for both companies.

Nielsen Launches New Tracking Tool

The Nielsen Company this month launched DemoWatch, a new feature of its web-based commercial tracking service KeepingTrac that will allow advertisers to monitor demographic composition of their advertising audiences.

How it works: DemoWatch links the demographic information obtained from Nielsen's overnight television ratings with KeepTrac's commercial monitoring ability to help advertisers and agencies ensure their television commercials are reaching their desired audiences. DemoWatch is also designed to help Nielsen clients adhere to advertising guidelines for children, which would affect primarily advertisers of food, alcohol, prescription drugs and R-rated movies. This way, if they violate the guidelines, they know quickly and can correct the situation.

The commercial tracking system captures commercials that have been encoded with a digital watermark, enabling real-time performance evaluation, which is also valuable for advertisers affected by the childrens' guidelines. DemoWatch actually automates this process.

Advertisers and their agencies already rely on Nielsen for a variety of services that help them accomplish their everyday tasks. Add DemoWatch, and KeepingTrac for that matter, to that list of valuable services. In a world where metrics and accountability are crucial to the success of organizations, these new complementary offerings have launched at the right time--it was very smart for Nielsen to combine the strengths of DemoWatch and KeepingTrac. Nielsen's clients will be able to more easily gauge the potential success of their campaigns while also ensuring they don't break any rules in the process. The immediate accessibility of this information is vital for advertisers and Nielsen has created a service that addresses the time-sensitive needs of its clients. Both DemoWatch and KeepingTrac will likely interest many Nielsen clients and could possibly attract new customers seeking such a solution.

RentBureau Provides Boost to ChoicePoint Data

RentBureau, an online real-time independent repository of apartment rental payment histories, has partnered with ChoicePoint to provide rental payment information to property owners as part of ChoicePoint's resident screening and collection service, Resident Data.

Rent payment data collected by RentBureau from multi-family owners and managers across the U.S. will be linked to Resident Data's database network. Through RentBureau's National Rental Data Exchange (NRDE), Resident Data clients can filter residential applications with their own customized leasing criteria to identify potentially good and bad renters, thus enabling them to make better leasing decisions.

The partnership will also provided Resident Data access to millions of rental payment records available to RentBureau's member property owners and managers, including Equity Residential, Post Properties, BRE, Julian LeCraw & Co., as well as other data partners.

This alliance will definitely make the Resident Data service a more robust one. Customers rely on ChoicePoint to help them manage their risks, so the more complete information they have, the better. It really isn't possible to give customers too much data, as long as that data is relevant to their needs. In this case, combining the resources of RentBureau and ChoicePoint to yield a more complete service just makes sense.

It also seems that it was easier for ChoicePoint to form this partnership than try to acquire such data on its own. It appears that the integration will be fairly smooth, and customers will be able to benefit from this collaboration immediately.

Another IHS Acquisition

Technical information provider IHS Inc. this month acquired the assets of Exploration Data Services of the Gulf Coast (EDS) and its subsidiary, Geodigit LLC. Both maintain and market geological data covering the subsurface Gulf of Mexico. The specific properties acquired by IHS for a purchase price of $6.25 million in cash include EDS's catalog of interpreted formation tops on more than 25,000 offshore wells, www.EDSMaps.com and Geodigit's MMS offshore well data, base maps and other well header data.

According to a press release announcing the deal, the acquisition is in line with IHS' goal to over subsurface coverage of nearly all major oil and gas basins in North America. EDS's coverage of basins in the Gulf of Mexico state and federal waters is expected to blend effectively with IHS databases of well, production, pressure and log data as well as two other acquisitions IHS made earlier this year: Geological Data Services and Geological Consulting Services.

This acquisition certainly makes a lot of sense, as it sufficiently helps IHS expand its coverage in this topic area. If IHS wants to become the ultimate information source for this type of data, it's certainly on the right track. And purchasing assets that are already strong on their own means there will be no learning curve--both IHS and its customers will benefit from the addition of EDS's expertise immediately. The deal is also a win for EDS, which will get the security of a steady parent company in IHS and will garner more interest for its offerings courtesy of an already established IHS customer base. There's still time for IHS to close another related deal before 2007 enters the history books; and it definitely won't be surprising if another key property is added this segment of the business by the end of the year.