What Are CAIS, CATO and CCDS, and Why Can't Brokers See Them?

When it comes to assessing a business's creditworthiness, most brokers rely on company accounts, bank statements, and a bit of instinct. But lenders? They usually see a lot more.

Some of the most powerful data sources available to UK lenders are CAIS, CATO, and CCDS. These systems provide deep, behind-the-scenes insight into how a borrower really behaves.

Here's a quick breakdown of what each one is, how lenders use them, and why brokers are currently kept out of the loop.

CAIS: Credit Account Information Sharing

CAIS is a private data network managed by Experian that gives lenders access to a complete picture of a customer's credit behaviour. Think of it as a real-time credit report that goes far beyond what you'd see on a standard credit check.

Unlike public credit files, CAIS shows lenders exactly how a business is managing all their existing credit relationships. This includes every active loan, overdraft, credit card, and finance agreement, along with detailed repayment patterns.

What CAIS reveals:

• All active credit accounts and outstanding balances
• Monthly repayment history showing on-time, late, or missed payments
• Recent defaults, arrears, and payment arrangements
• Credit utilisation patterns and trends over time
• Early warning signs of financial distress before they become public

For lenders, this is invaluable. They can instantly see if a business has undisclosed debt, how they're managing existing borrowing, and whether there are any red flags that haven't yet appeared in public records.

CATO: Credit Application and Transaction Overview

CATO is essentially a national log of credit applications. Every time a business applies for funding, that application gets recorded in CATO, creating a comprehensive picture of their credit-seeking behaviour.

This system helps lenders understand not just what credit a business currently has, but what they've been looking for and how actively they've been shopping around for funding.

What CATO tracks:

• Which lenders a business has approached and when
• The frequency and timing of credit applications
• Types of products they've been seeking (loans, overdrafts, asset finance, etc.)
• Application outcomes where available
• Patterns that might indicate desperation or "rate shopping"

Lenders use CATO to spot businesses that might be applying too widely or being consistently declined elsewhere. If someone has made ten applications in the past month, that's a red flag that suggests either desperation or unrealistic expectations about their creditworthiness.

CCDS: Commercial Credit Data Sharing

CCDS is a government-backed initiative that allows the UK's largest banks to share SME credit data with each other. It's the newest of the three systems and represents a significant shift towards greater transparency in commercial lending.

The system was created to help banks make better lending decisions by giving them visibility of a business's relationships with other major lenders. This is particularly valuable for SMEs, who often don't file frequent public accounts.

What CCDS provides:

• Real-time insights into SME borrowing behaviour across major banks
• Repayment performance and account conduct information
• Outstanding lending positions and credit exposures
• Early indicators of financial stress or improving performance
• Cross-bank view of a business's total banking relationships

For the big banks, CCDS provides a much clearer risk assessment of SMEs. They can see if a business is struggling with repayments elsewhere, or conversely, if they're performing well across multiple banking relationships.

The Challenge for Brokers

This creates a significant information asymmetry. While lenders are making decisions based on comprehensive, real-time data about a business's credit behaviour, brokers are often working with limited information:

• Company accounts that might be 12-18 months out of date
• Bank statements that show transactions but not the full context
• Basic credit checks that miss recent developments
• Whatever the business chooses to disclose (which might not be everything)

This means brokers might spend time on applications that lenders will immediately reject based on information the broker never had access to. It's frustrating and inefficient for everyone involved.

How Ari Levels the Playing Field

While Ari doesn't have access to these closed systems, it uses AI to extract and analyse the kinds of insights that lenders rely on. By processing bank statements, company accounts, and other available data, Ari can simulate many of the checks that lenders perform internally.

What Ari detects:

• Existing lender relationships: Identifies loan repayments and existing credit facilities from bank statement analysis
• Payment behaviour: Flags bounced payments, late payments, and irregular payment patterns
• Financial stress indicators: Spots HMRC payment issues, director loan activity, and cash flow problems
• Business performance trends: Analyses revenue patterns, seasonal variations, and growth trajectories
• Risk concentration: Identifies over-reliance on single customers or suppliers

By providing these insights in under a minute, Ari gives brokers much of the analytical power that lenders have, helping them make more informed decisions about which applications to pursue and how to present them.