The new business will be known as Experian Interfax and will be based in Moscow.

"The consumer economy is growing strongly in Russia, with demand for credit from consumers and businesses rising rapidly in parallel," said Roger Aubrook, Director of Experian International. "At the same time, the legal infrastructure in Russia is developing quickly, making the sharing of credit data possible for the first time. Credit bureaux are key enablers for the growth and quality of consumer credit portfolios, whilst protecting the privacy and credit exposure of individual consumers.

"Being the pioneers of credit bureaux in the US and UK, we have been working closely with lenders, governments and regulators for many years. Over this period, the predictiveness of decision making solutions has been enhanced by the introduction of shared credit information via credit bureaux, resulting in better risk management for lenders in those markets and, therefore, improved profitability.

"We have already seen significant growth this year in our client base for banking decision support software in Russia and that tells us it is now the right time to take the next step and establish the credit bureau.

"By putting Experian's international know-how and experience together with Interfax's local resources, client contacts and market knowledge, we feel we have a winning combination for the Russian market."

"The participation of a leading global information solutions company in the development of Russia's credit bureau clearly indicates the maturity of the market," said Mikhail Komissar, Chairman of the Board of the Interfax Group. "The credit bureau will encourage strong, stable growth in the retail credit market.

"Experian's involvement in the project ensures that the credit bureau will operate to the highest international standards, using the most modern and reliable technology."

"We believe that the creation of a credit bureau is the next logical step for Interfax Group-which includes Moody's Interfax Rating Agency, the leading Russian rating agency; SPARK, the most comprehensive analytical database on Russian corporate information; and the Financial News Agency (Interfax-FNA), our business intelligence unit," said Mr Komissar.