Bangladesh Bank today inaugurates its online service for providing Credit Information Bureau reports to banks and non-bank financial institutions.
BB governor Atiur Rahman will launch the service in a programme at the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in the capital.
Central bank officials said he online sharing of CIB reports would help the banks and NBFIs get important credit information in a few minutes and make their lending services faster.
According to the BB, all the 49 banks and 29 NBFIs of the country will be able to collect the online CIB reports from today.
The banks and financial institutions will also be able to collect the CIB reports from the central bank physically, if they want to, said the officials.
According to the existing provisions, if any client of a bank or financial institution wants to take a loan of $725 or Tk 50,000 or more, that bank or NBFI needs to collect the CIB report from the central bank to check whether the client is a loan defaulter or has any outstanding loan with any other bank or financial institution, said a BB official.
Atiur Rahman told New Age on Saturday that the online service of the CIB would reduce the cost of doing business and bring transparency in the financial sector.
'Sometimes, banks and financial institutions create complications in providing loans in the name of CIB report and Bangladesh Bank. It will be stopped,' he said.
He said approximately 5,000 queries about applicants for bank loans are made to the CIB a day and it takes around one week to respond to them.
'But, now it will be possible to get the information about the client with just a click of the mouse,' Atiur said.
He said the service would make it much faster for the Election Commission and other agencies to get loan-related information about any specific person.
The CIB was set up on 18 August 1992 by the central bank to reduce credit risk and the number of loan defaulters.
Source : New Age
