The Rwanda Bankers Association has welcomed the newly launched Credit Reference Bureau CRB) commending it as an institution that will make the lending and borrowing work easier.

Steve Caley, the president of the bankers association said that the association is looking forward to working with the bureau and hopes that life will be made easier for both the lenders and borrowers.

The CRB will be responsible for providing accurate information on borrowers’ debt profiles and repayment history, an activity that is currently done by lending institutions.

"The bureau will help teach us lessons about the credit history of the borrower and through assessing their credit history, we will know if he is a good or bad borrower,” said Caley.

The recorded information will be used by Commercial Banks, Credit Institutions and Micro Finance Institutions to quickly decide on ones’ loan request.

The banker’s association president also said that previously bad borrowers would take advantage of the absence of the credit profiles and seek loans from every bank but he hopes with the bureau in place, the vice will be curbed.

The fear that the credit profiles provided by the bureau may scare away the loan seekers, Caley said that it’s only the bad borrowers who will be turned away but those borrowers with a clear record have nothing to fear and they will benefit as well.

The National Bank has got the mandate to supervise the operations of the bureau to ensure that the information collected is managed in the most secured manner and the standards adhered to in accordance to the law.

With CRB being a new concept in the country, an educational campaign is set to be launched in order to sensitize the general public about the benefits of the credit reference services and create favorable perceptions about the bureaus.

Ends