27 June 2005
NINE financial institutions are finalising membership agreements with the Benefit Company to become founding members of the newly-established Credit Reference Bureau (CRB), which has been established with the support and backing of Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA).
The institutions are: National Bank of Bahrain, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, Standard Chartered, Citibank, Kuwait Finance House, American Express, CrediMax, Bahrain Credit and Diners Club.
CRB will facilitate consumer lending by gathering relevant information from records submitted by lenders and standardising it across the community, thus making the process more efficient. This will achieve a boost in confidence and volume of credit transactions which will ultimately invigorate the market.
Benefit general manager, Abdulwahid Janahi said, "The CRB system was developed based on a code of practice issued by BMA last July. By providing accurate, consolidated information, lending decisions will be made with a minimised risk and the decision-making process will be expedited, consequently benefiting customers who match criteria of the lender. "The bureau shall provide greater transparency towards the lending market. Shared information leads to effective lending decisions in order to concentrate on low-risk, more profitable customers.
"The inability to access credit information is consistently ranked as one of the greatest barriers to operation and growth," he added. "Credit may be expanded profitably and significantly by the existence of a credit bureau which considerably strengthens the financial stability of the country, thus maximising investment opportunities in the Kingdom."
CRB assistant general manager, Robin Watson said: "Benefit is the first company in the GCC to design and develop a product specifically created and built by IT Soft for the needs of the region. This stands as a testament to our continued dedication to maintaining a supreme level of consistency and to build customer trust by ensuring that we harness emerging technology to offer new and innovative services to our customers.
"Member institutions who subscribe to CRB will have simple access, providing information on applicants only after they have given their consent to Benefit. The data provided is on all loan and card accounts, currently focusing mainly on consumer lending. However, it does not provide information on customer saving or investment accounts and current accounts. The second phase will encompass the corporate credit-reference bureau."
NINE financial institutions are finalising membership agreements with the Benefit Company to become founding members of the newly-established Credit Reference Bureau (CRB), which has been established with the support and backing of Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA).
The institutions are: National Bank of Bahrain, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, Standard Chartered, Citibank, Kuwait Finance House, American Express, CrediMax, Bahrain Credit and Diners Club.
CRB will facilitate consumer lending by gathering relevant information from records submitted by lenders and standardising it across the community, thus making the process more efficient. This will achieve a boost in confidence and volume of credit transactions which will ultimately invigorate the market.
Benefit general manager, Abdulwahid Janahi said, "The CRB system was developed based on a code of practice issued by BMA last July. By providing accurate, consolidated information, lending decisions will be made with a minimised risk and the decision-making process will be expedited, consequently benefiting customers who match criteria of the lender. "The bureau shall provide greater transparency towards the lending market. Shared information leads to effective lending decisions in order to concentrate on low-risk, more profitable customers.
"The inability to access credit information is consistently ranked as one of the greatest barriers to operation and growth," he added. "Credit may be expanded profitably and significantly by the existence of a credit bureau which considerably strengthens the financial stability of the country, thus maximising investment opportunities in the Kingdom."
CRB assistant general manager, Robin Watson said: "Benefit is the first company in the GCC to design and develop a product specifically created and built by IT Soft for the needs of the region. This stands as a testament to our continued dedication to maintaining a supreme level of consistency and to build customer trust by ensuring that we harness emerging technology to offer new and innovative services to our customers.
"Member institutions who subscribe to CRB will have simple access, providing information on applicants only after they have given their consent to Benefit. The data provided is on all loan and card accounts, currently focusing mainly on consumer lending. However, it does not provide information on customer saving or investment accounts and current accounts. The second phase will encompass the corporate credit-reference bureau."
© Bahrain Tribune 2005
