MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Fair Isaac Corp. launched its new Global FICOT score the company says is designed to allow businesses operating outside the U.S., Canada, and South Africa to use the company's FICO credit risk scoring technology to improve the quality of their lending decisions. By using Global FICO, Fair Isaac's Ron Totaro, VP of Global Scoring Solutions, said businesses can use the new tool "to improve decisions throughout the customer credit lifecycle, from marketing initiatives through account approvals, to full portfolio management. The new score also may help financial service providers comply with Basle II and other regulatory requirements." A company release said Global FICO meets a "significant need" because in many countries credit bureau scores are not available, and "wide variances in the depth, breadth, and consistency of credit bureau data makes such score development difficult." To overcome this, Fair Isaac said it built into the Global FICO scoring formula a flexible and comprehensive collection of variables to extract predictive value from the widest range of available credit data. Global FICO score is already being used by lenders in Poland, Sweden and Mexico, and Fair Isaac said interest has been confirmed in other countries across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.