The NEWS Thursday, July 5, 2001, Credit Bureau goes live

KARACHI: DataCheck (Pvt.) Limited has formally commenced its consumer credit bureau operations.

It is the first credit bureau in the country, which will serve as a central repository of information relating to defaulting customers of the financial institutions. The software applications being used by the bureau have been developed with the assistance of Data Advantage Group of Australia which is the largest bureau service accounting for 95 percent of all credit inquiries in Australia.

Tariq Jan, the Managing Director of the company said that six banks had already subscribed to the bureau services including Citi Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, ABN AMRO, Askari Commercial Bank, Allied Bank of Pakistan and lately Union Bank.

Credit Bureau service will help financial institutions regulate credit and reduce the incidence of defaults. Bureau checks, on the one hand, prevent defaulting customers from availing of new loans and the other; encourage higher lending to good credit customers.