Credit Information Corp. said Monday it accredited three more credit bureaus as special accessing entities to ease the lending process in the country.
CIC signed subscription agreements in Makati City, formally accrediting CRIF Philippines, Compuscan Philippines and CIBI Information Inc. in accordance with the requirements in the Securities and Exchange Corporation Memorandum Circular No. 7 Series of 2015.
There are now four accredited SAEs, including TransUnion Information Solutions which became the first to execute an agreement with CIC on May 5.
“Accreditation of this new set of SAEs is our offer that the CIC has a viable business model, that there is a need for credit information and other value-added services in the financial sector and that the CIC is now set to move forward with our objectives and partnerships to reinforce its virtues of making credit easily available to the public through the alliance of both credit registry and bureau,” said CIC president and chief executive Jaime Garchitorena.
Garchitorena said CIC was waiting for the two other foreign credit bureaus, which would complete the initial list of six SAEs to be fully operational in the country.
These two companies are Credit Bureau Singapore and Dun and Bradstreet.
“We are looking at end of August or sometime in September. They have to set up a corporation in the Philippines which is not always that easy for foreign entities. There has to be a very specific purpose involved, so many things can go into it,” he said.
Once fully accredited, CIC shall grant the SAEs regulated access to the CIC’s credit data which will serve as elements to the SAEs’ statistical models and as the base for a wide range of off-the-shelf and value-added products.
These entities will be in close partnership with CIC in the development of these models and products and shall be included in the market development and awareness roadshows that CIC conducts in collaboration with International Finance Corp. and USAid.
These partnerships are also designed to widen the channels of information and product distribution, in line with policy mandate of CIC to make credit readily available to every Filipino.
“The accreditation was done, both to assure the quality of services that the SAEs will deliver and to change the public’s perception about borrowing or utilization of credit. It is an alliance, more than a partnership, because both the CIC and the SAEs are working toward a common goal: addressing the lack of reliable credit information in the country,” Garchitorena said.