Ray Ruffles, Managing Director of Business Information Services at Jordans, has become Chair of Business Information Providers Association (BIPA).
Formerly its Vice Chair, Ray will now Chair BIPA, an organisation which has two primary purposes. Firstly, to promote economic growth by facilitating access to business information as used by the credit reference agencies.
This information is essential because it reduces the risk inherent in business transactions, deters fraud and facilitates the granting of credit. Secondly, BIPA facilitates communication between the agencies and the business community to create greater awareness of the data held, how this data is used, how it benefits business decisions, and contributes to responsible lending.
Formed in March 2011, BIPA was created following feedback from British businesses and comprises of seven leading commercial credit reference agencies in the UK – Company Watch, Creditsafe Business Solutions, Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax, Graydon UK, and Jordans. BIPA operates in a non-competitive way with the aim of addressing issues of importance to the industry. Collectively the agencies facilitate billions of pounds of business decisions each year.
From October for the next 6 months, Ray will be responsible for Chairing the regular BIPA members meetings, overseeing all applications for BIPA membership and leading talks with key stakeholders including legislators, regulators and policy influencers. BIPA meets with the government when required to discuss issues of importance to the industry and also liaises with key industry associations, such as business interest groups and public data providers.
The Association aims to identify new potential sources of public data, in the knowledge that this will aid the growth in trade credit, deter fraud, help compliance and create better business decisions for UK companies.
As Ray moves into his new role, BIPA and the industry as a whole faces big challenges such as the implementation of GDPR and the introduction of VAT registration information in 2018. This last initiative was originally promoted by BIPA and was included in the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Bill of 2015.
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