Bank of Russia maps out strategy to develop credit history bureau market

The new approaches to developing the credit history bureau (CHB) market highlighted in the Bank of Russia’s consultative report will help reduce Russian personal debt levels and increase the number of high quality loans.

The report is based on international experience, CHB operating practices and proposals put forward by the federal government, Russian CHBs, credit institutions, non-bank financial institutions and their associations.

According to the document, the increased availability, accuracy and quality of the data provided by CHBs to financial institutions to evaluate personal solvency will facilitate growth in high quality lending. According to the regulator, excess of the critical ratio of personal debt to income, leading to the inability to service and repay debts, can be avoided. As a result, high Russian household debt levels are expected to fall.

The implementation of the report’s provisions will also be conducive to raising the accessibility and efficiency of services provided by CHBs to financial institutions and citizens through the expansion of interaction channels, including through the use of e-government infrastructure. The proposed novelties will help satisfy Bank of Russia needs for data to calculate the macroindicators of the CHB market and develop macroprudential measures to regulate both the CHB market and the lending market as a whole.

Achieving these goals implies changes in the CHB market landscape, including CHB system restructuring, upgrading CHB IT infrastructure and developing electronic information interaction between the CHB market participants. This will ensure a legally relevant exchange of digital real-time information with due account for confidential information and personal data protection requirements.

The Bank of Russia expects market participants and other interested parties to answer the questions raised in the report and make comments and proposals which will facilitate the achievement of CHB market development objectives.

Please send your responses to questions, comments and proposals to the e-mail addresses indicated in the report by 10 November 2017.