Credit bureau reports informal loans
February 23, 2016 - Daily News Tanzania

DUN & Bradstreet Credit Bureau Tanzania Limited has commenced reporting on borrowers in the non-regulated sector of the financial market thus extending the coverage of Credit Reporting beyond institutions regulated by Bank of Tanzania (BoT).

Dun & Bradstreet Credit Bureau Tanzania General Manager, Mr Adebowale Atobatele, the success recorded with reporting on borrowers in the non-regulated sector is nothing out of the ordinary.

He said a competent and capable credit reference bureau should be able to report such operations conveniently. “Extending the coverage of credit information reporting to Non-regulated financial institutions is what is naturally expected of us as a licensed credit bureau,” he said.

He added, “It is in fulfillment of our commitment to see that the sphere of credit information reporting goes beyond what is captured in the regulated financial sector and in addition, lift the standard of credit reporting to what is obtainable anywhere in the developed world where credit bureaus exists,” Senior Operations officer of Dun & Bradstreet Mr George Chiwangu said.

“Our experience with the Microfinance and Saccos is that they are willing to provide data on their borrowers because they appreciate the benefit of participating in a credit reporting system that is based on the principle of data reciprocity,’ he added.

Apart from that, we have made the templates required for data submission very simple to understand and easy to fill.

Under the BoT’s Credit Reference Bureau Regulation 2012, credit bureaus and data providers have clearly defined obligations helps to guide the relationship between the credit bureaus and their subscribers.

Credit Bureaux have become a key feature of credit application appraisals in Tanzania.

It is hoped that with the inclusion of records from non-regulated lenders, the lending market will become sanitised and rid of serial defaulters and fraudsters.