Bureau of Credit Histories studying creation of nongovernmental organization

Kyiv, May 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Bureau of Credit Histories is studying the creation of a nongovernmental organization to draw up unified standards for the operation of credit history bureaus, Board Chairperson of the First Ukrainian Bureau of Credit Histories Antonina Palamarchuk said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on May 24, 2012.

"Recently, [representatives of] several credit history bureaus met and discussed the issue [of the creation of a nongovernmental organization]. We have to not only protect the interests of credit history bureaus as a separate sector, but also to draw up professional standards for the operation of credit history bureaus," Palamarchuk said.

She said that along with the First Ukrainian Bureau of Credit Histories, the International Bureau of Credit Histories, Ukrainian Bureau of Credit Histories and the Russian Standard bureau of credit histories were among the initiators of the creation of the nongovernmental organization, which aims to represent the interests of credit histories bureaus.

Palamarchuk said that credit histories bureaus should be able to have access to information on a borrower contained in state registers, and the ability to verify data, incomes, etc in real time mode.

An expert of the German Advisory Group for economic reforms in Ukraine, Robert Kirchner, said at the conference, while presenting a report on the analysis of the credit history bureaus in Ukraine, it would be better to transfer the supervision over the operation of credit history bureaus from the national commission for financial service markets regulation to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), expand the access of credit history bureaus to the state databases to obtain a wider range of information on potential borrowers, and create incentives for the exchange of information on credit histories between market players.