Latest update October 9th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 01, 2016 News
– CreditInfo CEO
Consumers and businesses can look forward to greater access to financing in 2016 as the Parliament is making moves to actively consider amendments to the Credit Reporting Act of 2010. The amendments will allow for mandatory participation in Guyana’s Credit Bureau.
On December 17, last, Finance Minister Winston Jordan presented, for the first reading, the Credit Reporting (Amendment) Bill No. 13 of 2015. The Bill did not go through the remaining stages for it to be passed on Wednesday, the last sitting of the House for 2015. However, when it is passed, it will create a more enabling legal framework to support the delivery of credit reporting services in Guyana.
According to the World Bank /International Finance Corporation, credit reporting systems are vital to strengthening financial infrastructure and ultimately access to finance. As such, more countries are increasing their efforts to create an optimal legal and regulatory environment for these activities.
Head of Guyana’s only credit bureau, CreditInfo, Judy Semple-Joseph, said that Guyana in the aforementioned case is not an exception.
She said that in the circumstances, the proposed amendments to the Credit Reporting Act No. 9 of 2010 are necessary to create a legal framework which enables a credit bureau to operate effectively in the market, ensures that lenders, borrowers and the economy as a whole benefit from efficient credit reporting industry and improves Guyana’s rating in World Bank’s Doing Business Report.
Semple-Joseph noted that the amendments will therefore ensure that the Guyanese market benefits from the bureau’s operations as it aims to reach various goals.
She outlined some of these to be a decrease in default rates by at least 25 percent, increased access to credit – which will raise the ratio of private credit to the Gross Domestic Product by seven to eight percent – and a decrease in interest rates.
Semple-Joseph further explained, “The Credit Reporting Act of 2010, which governs the operations of the credit bureau in Guyana, designates all individuals and businesses as potential data subjects, which means that the credit bureau can maintain credit records of these entities in its database, which in turn will form the basis on which these subjects can prove their creditworthiness.”
“In a situation where there is no credit bureau, lenders often lack the necessary information to assess the creditworthiness of potential borrowers. This results in relatively high rates of decline of loan applications particularly among those self – employed in the informal sector.
“These persons include farmers, small scale retailers, home-based entrepreneurs and service providers, since they would have no salary slips or other traditional income statements for lenders to ascertain whether they have a steady flow of income. In addition, low income households tend to lack collateral – or the right type of collateral and legal documentation – against which to secure credit.”
She said that CreditInfo Guyana is therefore encouraging consumers and small business owners to pay attention to new or current developments within the financial sector, as these initiatives could impact their ability to obtain credit.
CreditInfo Guyana Inc. is the second regional presence of the CreditInfo group of companies, a well-respected Icelandic conglomerate with credit bureaus and subsidiaries in over 16 countries worldwide.
The bureau currently serves every commercial bank and lender licensed under the Financial Institutions Act in the country, as well as a wide cross-section of other stakeholders in various sectors.
The company is actively engaged in bringing together lenders and providers of credit from all sectors to add transparency, efficiency and effectiveness to the business of credit across the board.
Internationally, CreditInfo is regarded as a leading service provider for credit information and risk management solutions worldwide, and has developed numerous products and services from official and customer information sources to facilitate best practice decision-making in credit risk management.
The company brings to the table, over 20 years of solid experience and considerable expertise in the industry to the drive for improved access to credit in Guyana.
CreditInfo’s comprehensive line of credit reports will be in widespread use throughout the credit and lending sectors of Guyana, and are expected to significantly increase access to credit, reduce interest rates, help to lower the overall costs of borrowing and significantly reduce processing times for loans to the Small and Medium Enterprise Sector, as well as for all Guyanese.
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