The Ethics of Credit Exchange – Defamation and Confidentiality
Recognizing the importance of free and responsible exchange of credit information in the open, unsecured credit-based American economic system, this presentation is intended to describe some ethical standards for conduct in the exchange of credit information as it relates to defamation and confidentiality of both customers and suppliers. This discussion serves as the foundation for all commercial credit information exchange. Companies which rely on credit information from each other acknowledge and agree to abide by these principles, and they expect others with whom information is exchanged to respect them also. This presentation has been designed for commercial transactions, and is subject to applicable Federal and state laws.   After successful completion of this learning module the student will understand antitrust terminology including, defamation, libelous statements, slanderous statements, hearsay, clear evidence; the role of confidentiality and accuracy of inquiries and replies; breach of confidentiality; and industry credit group guidelines and procedures.

Speaker Bio:
Mike Brittain is a principal in Dix Services and specializes in commercial (B2B) credit management, analysis, association management and performs financial analysis on potential franchisees for major national franchisors. He is Managing Editor and contributing author of the Manual of Credit and Commercial Laws published annually by the National Association of Credit Management and is Managing Editor and contributing author of Principles of Business Credit textbook used in the certification of commercial credit managers and is a contributing presenter to the NACM Credit Learning Center.

He started his credit career as a Business Analyst with Dun & Bradstreet, and is most recently former President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Association of Credit Management (NACM) MidAmerica in Oklahoma City having retired in 2008 after 28 years in the position.

He is an instructor for the National Association of Credit Management,  teaching courses in “Principles of Business Credit”, “Financial Statement Analysis”, “Credit Law” and “Business Law”.