Consumers to benefit significantly from Credit Bureau

Aug 30, 2013 News

By Kiana Wilburg
Consumers will now have the opportunity to better charter their credit history and benefit significantly from their high credit scores as Credit Info (Guyana) Inc., a credit bureau from Iceland, was formally given its licence yesterday at the Bank of Guyana.
Apart from Jamaica, Guyana is now the second Caribbean country in which they operate.
The company has operations in other countries across the world with Guyana now standing as its sixtieth.
Addressing media operatives and staff of the Bank of Guyana was Lawrence Williams, Governor of the Bank of Guyana, who stated while the event was a simple one, it would certainly be recorded as a symbolic

Lawrence Williams, Governor of the Bank of Guyana (left), hands over the licence to Kristinn Agnarsson, one of the Directors of Credit Info (Guyana) Inc.

event in the financial history of Guyana.
“The credit bureau is an innovation in the financial architecture of Guyana which we expect will contribute significantly to the growth of the economy. The credit bureau project grew out of the Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) of 2005/2006 and the First Economic Summit of 2007. Both the FSAP and the summit recommended the credit bureau amongst a menu of measures to improve access to capital. It was posited that deficiency in credit information is a significant contributory factor to the prevailing low level of bank intermediation.”
The governor highlighted that attention was drawn to the difficulties faced by small- or medium-sized enterprises with limited or no acceptable collateral and the large segment of the population that is unable to access credit due to the absence of reliable credit history.
“With the assistance of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the private sector arm of the World Bank, legislation was drafted and enacted in 2010 to provide for the establishment of a credit reporting history to facilitate the provision of information about potential borrowers from a credible source. The aim is to enable more reliable, competitive and responsible lending while protecting borrowers’ rights.”
The credit bureau, according to Williams, is intended to compile the credit history of consenting consumers using information supplied by credit providers such as banks, trust companies, building societies, hire purchase companies, etc.
This power to access such readily available information on the credit history of the consumers not only provides benefits for them, but also to the lending institutions.
Due to the enactment of the legislation in 2010, the Bank of Guyana sought to identify the most suitable company for Guyana by first inviting six international credit bureau operators to submit a “Request for Solution.”
The Bank of Guyana received four responses and shortlisted two after they were evaluated by the IFC and representatives of the Bank of Guyana.
The governor noted that careful attention was paid to the technical proposal, the information technology solution and the security of data, experience of the service provider, financial strengths and operational flexibility.
Credit Info, a subsidiary of the Credit Info Group of Iceland, was subsequently selected as they have met with all the requirements of a set criterion.
After the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, was consulted on the issuance of a licence to the entity and agreed, it was officially signed on July 15 and handed over to Kristinn Agnarsson, one of the directors of the company.
Agnarsson told members of the media that he is delighted to be working in Guyana, and asked that the public be informed that the credit bureau offers much benefit to them as it will also serve to enhance credit portfolios. The director added that consumers will now have a chance to benefit greatly from having a credit history that can be accessed at any time.
Mrs. Judy Semple-Joseph, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Credit Info (Guyana) Inc. added that they hope to be open to the public by December 12.
The CEO said that while consumers will be entitled to one free credit report annually, they can obtain their report at any time for the cost of $1000.
Meanwhile, the company hopes to have programmes within the coming months to educate the general public on how the credit bureau works.