DUSHANBE, February 23, 2010, Asia-Plus — On an initiative of the financial sector and with support from the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) a meeting of future founders of Tajikistan’s credit bureau took place in Dushanbe at the end of last week, according to the IFC Dushanbe Office, which provides technical assistance for implementation of the project.
The meeting participants discussed issues related to the establishment of the credit bureau and are beginning work on founding the bureau. Technical partner for the credit bureau will be selected soon. The technical partner will create an automated system and all credit information suppliers will be connected to this system.
The process of singing of a cooperation agreement between 11 commercial banks, one state-run bank, 10 Tajikistan’s largest microfinance organizations, two credit societies and the Association of Microfinance Organizations of Tajikistan (AMFOT) ended on February 8, 2010.
This agreement has united holders of more than 90 percent of the country’s loan portfolio. Four commercial banks, six microfinance institutions and the AMFOT have decided to participate in direct establishment of the credit bureau.
A credit bureau is a company that collects information from various sources and provides consumer credit information on individual consumers for a variety of uses. It is an organization providing information on individuals borrowing and bill paying habits.
This helps lenders assess credit worthiness, the ability to pay back a loan, and can affect the interest rate and other terms of a loan. Interest rates are not the same for everyone, but instead can be based on risk-based pricing, a form of price discrimination based on the different expected risks of different borrowers, as set out in their credit rating. Consumers with poor credit repayment histories or court adjudicated debt obligations like tax liens or bankruptcies will pay a higher annual interest rate than consumers who don”t have these factors.
