Emcredit aims to develop individual credit rating

The Emirates Credit Information Company (Emcredit), Dubai's official credit information agency, aims to develop an individual credit rating of its consumer and commercial borrowers when it expands its network of credit data providers, a senior official of the credit bureau said.

"We will develop our own credit bureau score but only when we are happy with the coverage of the data that we have. Currently, we have access to six banks in the UAE representing almost 30 per cent of the total banking population in the country. However, as we will have more banks on board we will develop a credit bureau score," Zaid Kamhawi, Chief Business Officer, Emcredit, told Emirates Business.

Emcredit was recently appointed by a decree as official body for providing credit information services in Dubai, and mandates all credit data providers such as banks, financial institutions and government bodies in Dubai to provide credit information to Emcredit.

He said apart from the six banks that are on its roll, the bureau is looking to further include the top 10 or 12 banks in the UAE that will expand its database of banking population.

Currently, Emcredit has credit information of 400,00 retail customers in the UAE and nine million consumer identification records.

He said although Emcredit allows individuals to pull their own credit report, it is also building up better channels for them to access that information, for instance through online.

Emcredit is also expecting all banks and other institutions operating in Dubai to have complete access to its services within approximately two years time span.

"The time frame is quite normal, as we cannot collect credit information of all banks in a short period, since we have to follow up with their database, build up the credit information, as well as to put in place an IT system," Ali Ibrahim, Managing Director of Emcredit, said.

He said more and more banks are requesting for credit reports (relating to credit cards and bounce cheques) from Emcredit. "It comes as no surprise that around 55 per cent of Emcredit's clients subscribe to emBounce service, a cheque reporting tool enabling its clients to view cheque defaults on case by case basis," he said.

He said, one of the major focus areas of Emcredit is facilitating credit access for the small and medium enterprises sector as well.