UAE credit bureau opens its doors for business

Emcredit - the first independent credit information company in the UAE, opened its doors to offer technology-driven, credit reporting solutions that provide accurate credit information to lenders about borrowers.

Emcredit, a project initiated by the Department of Economic Development, Government of Dubai (DED) in 2003, was incorporated earlier this year as an independent enterprise, under the direction of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. Emcredit collates data on borrowers and provides it in real time to lenders thereby supporting their decision making processes. Emcredit is located at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) where it operates under a data protection law, which facilitates effective data sharing and offers privacy protection to individuals.

Speaking at the launch press conference today, Mr. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Director General of the DED and Chairman of Emcredit said: "Emcredit was established with the strategic objective of empowering the decision making process and driving the knowledge based economy. Its unique structure combines the best of public and private sector models and operates on a state-of-the-art technology platform to offer its stakeholders the highest levels of security and data protection, which is essential to its success."

He explained how Emcredit will fuel economic growth, particularly in supporting the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment: "A significant part of Dubai's economic growth is driven by SMEs. With the support of Emcredit's reliable credit information on SMEs, this can translate into better opportunities and better access to credit, which in turn enhances their performance and spurs further growth in the economy."

Mr. Bashar Saleh Qallab, CEO of Emcredit explained: "By providing factual,
real time credit information and historical repayment records, Emcredit provides a clearer picture of the creditworthiness of borrowers. This helps lenders assess their credit risk more quickly, accurately and profitably. Our vision is to enable smarter decisions today for a more prosperous tomorrow and we are confident that efficient credit information provided by Emcredit will be beneficial to everyone - financial institutions assessing customers, corporates assessing corporates and consumers assessing their own credit position."

Mr. Qallab underlined the role of technology as a significant factor in providing cutting-edge credit solutions: "Technology is the backbone of Emcredit's operations. This is a fully online business which enables us to cater to the advanced technical needs of our clients. We provide information over our state-of-the-art technology platform that allows our clients to access a wealth of information almost instantly. Our turn-around time for performing a credit check is under three seconds."

Emcredit's technology platform has been set up by Dun & Bradstreet, which is globally renowned for its excellent track record in creating credit bureaus around the world.

Currently, Emcredit can provide credit information solutions to its members (Private Network Partners) and is set to introduce a range of commercial and consumer value added products in the near future.

Emcredit collects data from its Private Network Partners as well as from external sources, so as to provide a clear, objective picture. Mr. Qallab added, "Emcredit's independent business model emphasises its neutral position in the management and dissemination of credit information, we have no use for the data other than to provide it efficiently to our clients."

Commenting on the relevance of Emcredit to the local market, Mr. Qallab concluded: "Clearly, the availability of accurate high quality credit information in real time is needed in an era of economic growth. As the market grows, opportunities will emerge, customer bases will grow, but so will the risks. With our solutions, our clients will be able to make the right choices for their respective businesses. We believe our entry into the market is timely, and promises to have a significantly positive impact on not only the SMEs segment but on the entire economy."

A World Bank survey of more than 5,000 SMEs across 51 countries, found that in markets without credit reporting systems; 49 per cent of SMEs reported financial constraints whereas in markets with efficient credit information, that number fell to 27 per cent.