The Presidents/Chief Executives,

All Banks /DFIs/MFBs/NBFCs/Modarabas/MFIs

Dear Sir/Madam,

Membership of Private Credit Bureaus under Credit Bureaus Act, 2015

            In terms of Credit Bureaus Act (CBA), 2015, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has been empowered to grant license and supervise the affairs of credit bureaus in private sector. In this regard, SBP has granted licenses to M/s Aequitas Information Services Limited and Data Check Limited to commence business as Private Credit Bureaus.

2. Further, in terms of provisions of Section 11 of CBA-2015, State Bank of Pakistan has to prescribe the period by regulations, within which, every credit institution has to become member of at-least one credit bureau. It has now been decided to prescribe the period in the existing Regulation -10 by substituting the same with the following:-

Regulation 10
Membership of Credit Bureaus

Pursuant to Section 11(1) of Credit Bureaus Act, 2015, every credit institution shall become a member of at least one credit bureau by September 30, 2019 or within three months of the commencement of business by a newly licensed credit institution whichever is later.

The Credit Bureaus shall enter into a formal agreement with Credit Institutions for collection, sharing and dissemination of data. The agreement should inter alia take into account the following minimum explicit clauses;

1. requiring the member(s) to provide the credit bureau, accurate and complete, information as per defined frequency and timeline.
2. ensuring maintenance of confidentiality, privacy and security of information.
3. dispute resolution mechanism and responsibilities of each member.

The agreement shall not include any clause in contravention of Credit Bureaus Act, 2015, Credit Bureaus Rules and Regulations 2016 and any such clause, shall, to the extent of such contravention, be void. The Credit Bureaus shall keep SBP updated on the status of their members on annual basis. 

3. The Banks /DFIs/MFBs/NBFCs/Modarabas/MFIs are advised to complete the process of membership by the given time and start sharing data.