Mr. John Trethowan:

In France and Holland they take a one stop shop approach and all the information on a company would flow into one place, so the annual accounts, report and account, the credit scores and-or tax records are in one place. These countries are probably the most advanced in this field. A lender can see whatever he or she needs to see about a business. Across Europe, with credit bureaus and credit registers, it is a bit of a mishmash. I do not think that we are that far behind. The work being done by the Central Bank, which Ms Collins described, will bring us back up. If the Senator is interested, the French and the Dutch are the two countries that have really cracked it. It is big business.