Banks Should Obtain Borrowers’ Records From Credit Bureaus – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria has instructed lending institutions to obtain reports of borrowers from credit bureaus as part of their due diligence in granting loans.

It also said the operations of private credit bureaux would be guided by the provisions of the Credit Reporting Act, 2017 and the National Credit Reporting System Regulation, 2019.

CBN stated this in its report on ‘Monetary, credit, foreign trade and exchange policy guidelines for fiscal years 2020/2021’.

The CBN said all banks and other financial institutions must continue to “Have data exchange agreements with at least two licensed credit bureaux;

“Obtain credit reports from at least two licensed credit bureaux in addition to the CBN CRMS before granting any new credit facility, or when reviewing, renewing or restructuring an existing facility;

“Obtain credit reports for quarterly credit reviews on all existing facilities from at least two licensed credit bureaux;

“Upload loan data on all its existing credit customers to credit bureaux with which it has executed data exchange agreements.”

It also said banks should update any change in the data submitted to a credit bureau pursuant to relevant provision of the Act, at least on a monthly basis or more frequently, or in accordance with a schedule provided by the credit bureau.

In order to improve the credit space and unlock access to consumer and retail loans, it said the banks should require all identified data controllers to provide data to a central depository.

The CBN also said that its policies, guidelines and processes for the prevention, management and containment of bank systemic distress and crisis would continue to apply.

It stated that the banks must continue to comply with the requirements of the Credit Risk Management System as stipulated in the CBN circular.