Speaking exclusively to this paper, Credit Reference Bureau’s General Manager, Adebowale Atobatele said the move is meant to fulfill its functions as licensed by the BoT.
According to him, the initiative recorded with reporting on borrowers in the non-regulated sector is nothing out of the ordinary and is what a competent and capable credit reference bureau should be able to do conveniently.
“Extending the coverage of credit information reporting to non-regulated financial institutions is what is naturally expected of us as a licensed credit bureau,” he said, adding: “It is in fulfillment of our commitment to see that the sphere of credit information reporting in Tanzania goes beyond what is captured in the regulated financial sector and in addition, lifts the standards of credit reporting in Tanzania to what is obtainable anywhere in the developed world where credit bureaus exist.”
Experts are of the opinion that with the innovation by Dun & Bradstreet, lenders in the non-regulated financial sector will be better equipped to appraise loan seekers and ensure that they prevent losses to defaulting borrowers.
Dispelling the misconception that non-regulated financial institutions are not able to provide data on their borrowers to the bureau, Senior Operations Officer of Dun & Bradstreet George Chiwangu said:
“Our experience with microfinance and Saccos institutions is that they are very willing to provide data on their borrowers because they appreciate the benefit of participating in a credit reporting system that is based on the principle of data reciprocity.”
He adds: “Apart from that, we have made the templates required for data submission very simple to understand and easy to fill. One clear advantage of this is that collecting data directly from non-regulated institutions as permitted by the Credit Bureau Regulation, enables us to guide the data providing institution through the process of data submission thus, recording a higher degree of accuracy and consistency in data submission.”
Under the Bank of Tanzania (Credit Reference Bureau) Regulation 2012, credit bureaus and data providers have clearly defined obligations that help to guide the relationship between the credit bureaus and their subscribers.
Credit bureaus have become a key feature of credit application appraisals in Tanzania. It is hoped that with the inclusion of records from non-regulated lenders, the lending market will become sanitised and rid of serial defaulters and fraudsters.
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