FAQs Business Information Report

What is a Business Information Report / Credit Opinion Report?

Business Information Reports give you a wide range of credit data on your potential customers, partners, and suppliers. They allow you to research key business information, such as contact details, sales figures, size, products/operations, credit summary, history. In addition, you will obtain information on judgments, tax liens and bankruptcies. CRIF also includes credit rating in these business information reports to aid in your decision making by offering an in-depth view of financial and operational profiles. For more details, explore our blog on What’s in a Business Information Report?

What is Included in a Domestic Report?

It is a report which encapsulates the financial profile of the business entity. The details mentioned in the Business Information Report (BIR) include standalone and consolidated financial information, details of the auditors and group companies, global due diligence, ratio analysis, Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) history, Legal cases, Credit Ratings from External Rating Agencies (ECRA), GST Data etc. As such, a Business Information Report provides simple one-stop access for undertaking financial due diligence for any entity.

What is included in an international report?

Our international business reports include most of the information you would expect to find in a local report, however not all countries have an equivalent to Registry in India. We sometimes need to gather information from other local sources so the information may vary country by country; this operation is crucial for accurate reporting.

How long will it take to receive my report?

60% of all reports requested by our customers are typically delivered instantly online. Where a company is not available, a fresh investigation will take between 2-10 working days depending on the country. For India all requests are processed in 2 Working Days.

How does a fresh investigation work?

When a company report is not available to view online you can have the opportunity to freshly investigate a business. Once this request is received, we will attempt to contact the company directly using our network of local partners and official registries to provide a detailed report within as little as 2–10 working days.

Where do you get your data from?

Our data is collected from over 200 sources, wherever possible we will collect information from official registries similar to Registrar of companies. Our network of 35 offices and trusted local partners in more than 200 countries allow us to collect information locally; ensuring we always deliver high quality and up-to-date information.

How can Business Information Report help mitigate potential risks?

Apart from providing the financial information, a Business Information Report provides a risk evaluation matrix for the entity, rating it under a Risk Parameter and further provides certain key observations and trends related to the financial information. The report also provides historical information and details on suits filed. As such, a Business Information Report can help mitigate potential risks by providing specific inputs on an entity's financial performance and payment history.

What are the Benefits of Business Information Report?

A Business Information Report aims to provide 360-degree information access regarding an entity or a business. This includes financial information and credit repayment history, such a report also provides a risk evaluation matrix for the entities and key observations emerging out of financial information and trends. As such, one can assess the credit risks associated before dealing with different entities. For more information, explore our detailed guide to Business Information Reports.

What is a Full Report?

The Full report gives you a comprehensive and in-depth information of your business partners. it is the perfect product for your credit and risk management. Full reports are available in all 200 plus countries, with an instant delivery or within an optimized response time from 1 to 10 days depending on countries selected; these business reports are essential for informed decision-making.

What is a Slim Report?

The Slim Report gives you a synthetic view of your business partners, CRIF provides you an instant delivery on companies located in more than 35 countries and access to information in a total of 90 countries.

What is due diligence?

Due diligence is the process to broadly assess an entity's financial & non-financial profile and take suitable necessary actions for mitigating the performance risks associated while dealing with an entity. Such due diligence process may involve collecting and reviewing basic information or undertaking focused risk-based approach to identify key risk areas.

Why is due diligence performed?

A business due diligence is usually performed prior to getting into a transaction with a company, this can be for Domestic or Cross- Border transactions as well. A due diligence helps the buyer / seller take an informed decision to mitigate risks associated with a business transaction. It can be undertaken by reviewing the entity's financial information and other trends to assess any potential risks for dealing with such an entity.

I have dealt with my clients for many years, do I still need to carry out customer due diligence?

You need to keep customer due diligence up to date for all your clients. You may have sufficient documentary ID details on your files, but if there has been any subsequent change to their circumstances or risk profile, you should update your customer due diligence. It is advised to review clients’ customer due diligence on a regular basis.

How do I do a due diligence or a credit check on my customer or supplier?

You can run a credit check or a due diligence on any company or business in the world using CRIF Information solutions. Explore a company name to view a full company credit report and score. All our Business Information Reports include company verification, registration, ownership and financial performance data so that you can make quick and accurate decisions about your customers and suppliers. To begin a credit check, explore CRIF Credit Solutions for a comprehensive view of business risks.

1. Why Compliance Checks are important?

If a company has been sanctioned, involved in AML, or issued a penalty by law for failure to comply with a court order, law, or regulation, it must log this information. It is illegal to deal with a such company, so it is important to run a check on them and be compliant with the current guidelines set in place.

2. Why do you need to do PEPs and Sanction checks?

Standard checks do not screen clients against the Global list, while PEPs (Politically Exposed Persons) are not necessarily included in financial sanction checks, which is a requirement for compliance. Companies are required to run the checks as it not only reduces own company’s risk exposure, but to also comply with the current guidelines and stay within the law. It is also the responsibility of the credit or compliance department to carry out proper due diligence when working with new clients as you need to be fully aware of whom you deal with under ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) guidelines.

3. Why does my business need to perform AML checks on its clients?

The Anti-Money Laundering regulations are governed by different Acts globally: for example, like The Proceeds of Crime Act, The Serious Organised Crime and the Money Laundering Regulations etc... Failure to report suspicious activity can carry a criminal sentence and lead to substantial fines from the relevant regulatory body.

4. What does the Compliance Check Cover?

Our robust global risk intelligence enables your business to easily integrate proven data science across critical risk management and compliance processes. Achieve higher levels of decisioning precision with database segments that are tailored to fit specific financial crime compliance and risk management strategies, including: -

• SANCTION DATA
• ENFORCEMENT
• PEP (Politically Exposed Person)
• ADVERSE MEDIA
• SOE (State Owned Entity)
• REGISTRACTIONS under FACTA, MSB’s etc...

5. How much time will it take to Check a Company or and Individual?

All Reports are Real Time, at a click of a button delivering current and continuously updated screening data

6. What are the Benefits of Compliance Reports?

CRIF Compliance Data is ideal for organizations needing to screen customer and partners quickly and efficiently and to proactively help your business:

• Increase transaction screening efficiency
• Reduce false positives
• Mitigate costly risk

7. What is a Compliance Check Report?

A Compliance Check Report helps businesses verify the legal and regulatory status of a company or individual. It includes sanction checks, financial risk assessment, and legal background screening to prevent fraud and ensure compliance with AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations.

8. How Often Should Business Conduct Compliance Checks?

• Before onboarding new clients, vendors, or partners.
• Annually, for existing customers to ensure continued compliance.
• Before mergers, acquisitions, or large financial transactions.
• Whenever regulatory updates affect compliance laws.

1. What is Cyber Risk?

Cyber risk is much more than just hacking. It involves internal and external risks, product risk, third-party risk and aggregate risk, such as service provider and supplier failure, human error, software obsolescence, and upstream internet and network interruptions.

2. Who can be involved in a cyber-attack?

The cyber risk ecosystem is complex and involves many players and aspects. Organisations of all sizes have been or will be impacted by cyber risks, and whilst this threat is well publicised, it is not always well understood. All businesses are connected to the internet: emailing customers, searching the internet, or paying suppliers are just some of the ways businesses interact online.

3. Is it possible to identify cyber risk before a cyber-attack, data breach or business interruption happens?

Unfortunately, many businesses are still unprepared to manage cyber risk and understand their vulnerabilities. In this age of digital disruption, there is a clear need for businesses to look out for cyber threats on an ongoing basis. Recognising this need, CRIF has developed CRIF Cyber Check Report, a proactive response to cyber management in 3 simple steps.

4. What is the Cyber Check Report?

• High priority risks are flagged for immediate action.
• No technical expertise is required.
• Identify vulnerabilities to take corrective action.

CRIF CYBER CHECK is simple and easy to use. A cost-effective proactive response to cyber risk management the report provides a summary of your organization's current cybersecurity posture with influencing risk factors.

5. How can I use this Cyber Check Report?

• Knowing your cybersecurity risk today lets you see how attackers can target your organization’s critical assets, which could lead to data loss.
• You can Further Check Discreetly on your Partners.

6. What can I expect from this Cyber Check Report?

• Access a snapshot report of your current security framework for a limited time.
• Know what the findings are and what they mean to your risk across multiple domains
• Learn how your organization's cybersecurity performance compares to your peers
• Learn how to use your categorized risk to influence corrective action with risk prioritized data based on issue severity.

7. Why is Cyber Risk Assessment Important for Businesses?

Cybersecurity risks are increasing, with over 60% of small businesses experiencing cyberattacks annually. A Cyber Check Report helps businesses:

• Detect vulnerabilities before cybercriminals exploit them.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory cybersecurity standards.
• Prevent financial & reputational damage from cyber fraud.
• Secure customer data and prevent breaches

8. What Does a CRIF Cyber Check Report Include?

CRIF’s Cyber Check Report provides:

• Risk Exposure Analysis – Evaluates cyber threats specific to your industry.
• Dark Web Monitoring – Detects leaked company data & credentials.
• Network & Endpoint Security Assessment – Identifies IT infrastructure weaknesses.
• Phishing & Fraud Risk Analysis – Evaluates email security risks.

1. What is Patent Due Diligence?

Due diligence can be conducted at any time during a patent’ s lifecycle, depending on the purpose of the due diligence review. Patent due diligence is carefully analysing a company’s patent portfolio.

• It helps you to determine whether an entity or individual is infringing your patents or whether your patents can be monetised.
• It helps you to evaluate if you have the freedom to operate your new business venture. This includes information about whether you are infringing on an individual’s or entity’s patents and the steps that you can take to mitigate those risks.

Patent Due Diligence is a process of evaluating intellectual property (IP) assets to assess their legal, technical, and financial risks. It is crucial before:

• ✔ Mergers & Acquisitions
• ✔ Licensing Deals
• ✔ Investment in Patent Portfolios
• ✔ Litigation or Patent Monetization

2. What are the benefits of a Patent Due Diligence Report?

The scope of the Patent Due Diligence report is to answer the following fundamental questions: -

• How many patent assets does the company have?
• For how many years will these patent assets remain?
• What is the value of these patent assets?

Understanding every detail of the target portfolio is essential for a successful transaction.

3. How can I use a Patent Due Diligence report?

Patent Due Diligence is a used case for all stakeholders, it can be used for: -

• PATENT MONETISATION
• INVESTMENT & M&A
• PATENT PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS

4. Why is Patent Due Diligence Important?

Patent Due Diligence Helps Businesses:

• ✔ Identify ownership rights & legal status of a patent.
• ✔ Verify if the patent is enforceable & free from disputes.
• ✔ Assess potential infringement risks and validity challenges.
• ✔ Ensure the patent portfolio aligns with business strategy.
• ✔ Determine monetization opportunities before licensing or selling.

5. What Does a CRIF Patent Due Diligence Report Include?

CRIF’s Patent Due Diligence Report provides:

• ✔ Patent Ownership Verification – Confirms the rightful owner(s) & licensing details.
• ✔ Legal Status & Expiry Date – Checks registration validity & renewal deadlines.
• ✔ Freedom-to-Operate (FTO) Analysis – Identifies risks of infringement.
• ✔ Litigation & Opposition History – Detects past or ongoing legal disputes.
• ✔ Patent Strength & Market Relevance – Evaluates commercial potential.