Guyana’s first Credit Bureau to benefit consumers

creditGeorgetown: Guyanese consumers will now have the opportunity to better charter their credit history and benefit significantly from their high credit scores as Credit Info (Guyana) Inc., a credit bureau from Iceland, was formally given their license Thursday at the Bank of Guyana.

Handing over the licence was Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Lawrence Williams. The licence was officially signed in July.  Apart from Jamaica, Guyana is now the second Caribbean country in which they operate.

The company has operations in other countries across the world with Guyana now standing as its 60th.

Governor of the Bank of Guyana said ‘the credit bureau is an innovation in the financial architecture of Guyana which we expect will contribute significantly to the growth of the economy.”

“The credit bureau project grew out of the Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) of 2005/2006 and the First Economic Summit of 2007. Both FASAP and the summit recommended the credit bureau amongst a menu of measures to improve access to capital. It was posited that deficiency in credit information is a significant contributory factor to the prevailing low level of bank intermediation.”

He continued: “With the assistance of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the private sector arm of the World Bank, legislation was drafted and enacted in 2010 to provide for the establishment of a credit reporting history to facilitate the provision of information about potential borrowers from a credible source. The aim is to enable more reliable, competitive and responsible lending while protecting borrowers’ rights.”

The credit bureau, according to Williams, is intended to compile the credit history of consenting consumers using information supplied by credit providers such as banks, trust companies, building society, hire purchase companies etc.

Due to the enactment of the legislation in 2010, the Bank of Guyana sought to identify the most suitable company for Guyana by first inviting six international credit bureau operators to submit “Request for Solution.”

The Bank of Guyana received four responses and shortlisted two after they were evaluated by the IFC and representatives of the Bank of Guyana.

The Chief Executive Officer said that while consumers will be entitled to one free credit report annually, they can obtain their credit report at any time for the cost of $1000.