Credit reporting

Traditional credit scoring is under siege from alternative underwriting, and TransUnion is joining the future by investing in other emerging trends such as mobile device security and health care payments.

Mark Begor said Wednesday that banks and other customers will receive regular updates on the credit reporting agency’s efforts to improve its cybersecurity in the wake of last year’s massive data breach.

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Some speculate that the banks who do business with credit reporting agencies may be looking for alternatives after mounting concerns about their ability to keep information private. But breaking up is hard to do.

A broad network of financial data, such as utility payments and direct deposits, could help those without established credit histories better obtain loans. It might also help lenders make more accurate underwriting predictions.

Some fear that the removal of such data from individual credit reports could lead lenders to believe a consumer is a better bet than they really are.

The hiring of Mark Begor comes as the credit bureau has been shuffling its top managers since disclosing last year that hackers were able to access the personal data of 145.5 million U.S. consumers.

A former senior executive at Equifax Inc. was criminally charged for allegedly selling almost $1 million worth of shares before the company’s announcement last year that it had suffered a massive data breach.

A late addition to regulatory relief legislation would direct the Federal Housing Finance Agency to review credit-scoring alternatives, but some say the provision is redundant.