Taking Off
Oman’s first private credit bureau is off to a promising start

Small investors in the Sultanate of Oman have a lot to cheer about now, with the establishment of Oman’s first private credit bureau by the National Bureau of Commercial Information (NBCI).

It was promoted by Hind Bahwan, who is the chairperson of the credit bureau, and by Khalid Ahmed Al Hosni, who is the vice-chairman and managing director. Says Sheikh Hosni, “we offer information on individuals ranging from his credit history to his financial details. This can be of great help to companies and banks looking at lending or offering facilities to consumers. The CMA has passed certain regulations that will govern the operation of NBCI.”

As an integral part of a strong financial infrastructure, credit reporting bureaus have been identified as one of the main providers of basic information for forming credit strategies such as the ones prescribed by the new Basel II Capital Accord. NBCI has teamed up with Experian, one of the three largest global information services companies, to acquire immediate technical know-how, robust systems and instant credibility. NBCI will provide valuable decision-making tools to any company or financial institution extending consumer credit in the Sultanate.

Although credit bureau reports do not include any sort of credit decision opinions, they provide the basic data to institutions giving credit for evaluation of portfolios and individual account risk ratios.
The credit bureau will be capable of collating, sorting and producing credit reports on individuals, small and medium-sized businesses on a real-time, web-based platform.