Macro economic stimulation, better access to financial services, reduction of non-performing loans, reduced reliance on collateral and lower interest rates on loans were the topics of conversation at a special workshop convened in Kigali on the 13^th of March 2008.

In opening the workshop BNR Governor, Francois Kanimba, told delegates that “To raise our status on the world stage and attract much needed investment, implementing a credit bureau is no longer a choice, it’s a necessity”.   Banks need to reduce the costs of lending and with a credit bureau in place better risk management can be implemented.

Presentations were delivered by South African specialist credit bureau, CompuScan Information Technologies, and delegates were exposed to CompuScan’s credit bureau solutions for developing economies.

CompuScan is a South African based credit bureau that has a presence in seven African countries, providing credit skills training, credit software and country specific credit bureau solutions. Following extensive research conducted by Rwanda Enterprise Investment Corporation (REIC) a specialist Rwanda private equity fund that is supportive of the credit bureau initiatives to assist in development of the financial sector, CompuScan was selected as among the best suited credit bureau partner that Rwanda could join forces with.

REIC has been investigating suitable alternative credit bureau service providers for Rwanda’s specific environment following on from the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ report that highlights that in Rwanda (and other countries) insufficient attention has been placed on proper credit information repositories to reduce risks faced by lenders.

According to Malan, MD of Compuscan Uganda, who is responsible for the implementation of CompuScan’s drive into East Africa, Rwanda has a unique opportunity to lay the foundations of quality credit bureau reporting from the outset. The environment is already right as banks and MFI’s have been reporting both positive and negative data to the BNR managed credit register for several years. As such credit reporting is not a new concept. The benefits of involving CompuScan as a privately run credit bureau are the value added solutions we are able to offer to further assist in risk reduction, automation, and ultimately to increase profits.

In Rwanda Malan believes that the financial sector is ready for CompuScan. Our scalable country model can be implemented now while lending is still relatively small and can easily keep pace with a growing Economy in the country. External data sources from other sectors will add to the predictive nature of the data at the bureau. “The participation of the Public sector in the workshop has been extremely encouraging. There are considerations to allow access to the information files of various state managed databases to bring an immediate depth of quality to the data at the bureau. By combining information from the private sector and the Public sector together in one central credit bureau Rwanda has the opportunity to fast track the benefits that other countries have enjoyed for years. Countries that have access to detailed credit information and other diverse related data are able to implement sound credit policies and increase lending aggressively with high levels of comfort that proper adherence to risk management is in order.

Delegates that attended the workshop were highly charged about the possibilities that could be brought about with CompuScan’s solutions.

Financial Institutions and other industry sector users of the bureau, with input from CompuScan will form a code of conduct to govern the use and purpose of the information that has been collected. The code will address an individual or companies’ rights to lodge grievance procedures and dispute data accuracy and it will enshrine a person’s rights to view data held by the bureau.

It is premature to say when the credit bureau will be operational but Malan from CompuScan believes if there is real commitment from the key stakeholders in Rwanda, that the member organisations could be enjoying the full benefits of a credit bureau before the end of 2008.

For more on the above please click here: http://allafrica.com/stories/200803180140.html

For CompuScan’s African development Bureau Solutions, please contact:

East African Solutions: Mike Malan, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +256 772 787 262

All Other African Solutions: Frank Lenisa This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +27 (0)21 888 6000