| 6 Feburary 2007 |
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Dun & Bradstreet hosted the South Asia Credit Bureau Summit in Chennai on the 5th and 6th of February 2007. The event was attended by Central Bankers, Credit Bureau leaders and senior bankers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Egypt apart from senior IFC officials.
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The South Asian region has witnessed rapid developments in the Credit Bureau space in recent years and the participants came together to discuss these developments and throw light on the challenges faced by them. All participants concluded that Credit Bureaus should become integral to the Banking and Financial sector in every country and that Credit Bureaus must be viewed positively by all.
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The bankers discussed the benefits they had derived through Credit Bureaus in terms of shorter processing time and lower costs.
Ms. Natalya Mylenko, IFC, said "Global empirical evidence has shown that in countries that have Credit Bureaus, there is higher probability of obtaining loans and financing constraints are minimized". Mr. Rajesh Mirchandani, CEO for Dun & Bradstreet - South Asia, Middle East and Africa said, "It is very important that Credit Bureaus are seen in the correct perspective as institutions that will facilitate borrowers to obtain credit and not as a hindrance to them."
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Mr. Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, MD, Pubali Bank, Bangladesh, said "The concept of blacklisting by a Credit Bureau gives the Bureau a negative image with the borrowers and efforts have to be made to eliminate this concept. Borrowers need to be assured that a Credit Bureau will help them obtain credit and reward good borrowers through beneficial interest rates and other facilities."
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Mr. Anil Adhikary, the newly appointed CEO of Nepal's Bureau was candid in pointing out that this was a primitive Bureau and consolidated efforts had already begun to upgrade it to a world class Bureau. It may be noted that D&B has played an active role in shaping information based infrastructure and knowledge-based lending in all South Asian countries. In particular, the Indian and Sri Lankan Bureaus have appointed D&B as the technology partner and project consultant. Mr. Amarasena, General Manager, CRIB Sri Lanka, said "D&B has played a critical role in shaping and modernizing the Credit Bureau of Sri Lanka. We look forward to more of these leadership forums from D&B in the years ahead."
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