Credit Reporting Agency Will Fully Oversee Private Credit Reporting Agencies

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (Bernama) -- The Credit Reporting Agency Registrar's Office in the Finance Ministry will fully supervise private credit reporting agencies when it starts operations early next year, it was announced on Wednesday. Deputy Minister of Finance Dr Awang Adek Hussin said previously the agencies' activities were not monitored by any government agency. They gathered information deemed non-confidential from public sources without any government supervision, he told the Senate on Wednesday. Following public complaints over problems arising from non-updated data information, the government decided to enact the Credit Reporting Act 2010, he said, adding that Parliament passed the Act in June last year. The Act allows registered private credit reporting agencies to gather, store and channel credit data of an individual or a company either from the bank or from non-bank financial sources. Nonetheless, the agency has to obtain prior consent from the person concerned before his or her credit data can be obtained, he said when replying to Senator Syed Ibrahim Kader during the question-and-answer-session. Syed Ibrahim wanted to know how private companies can hold personal information of an account holder and which government agency was authorised to monitor and supervise such companies and give them the authority to do so. The Deputy Minister said private credit reporting agencies, including CTOS Sdn Bhd, must be registered with the Credit Reporting Agency. CTOS, Credit Tip-Offs Sdn Bhd, feeds in factual financial information into an electronic media for an accurate and easy retrieval. Awang Adek said private credit reporting agencies must offer wide coverage including information on litigation and utility bill payments of an individual or supplies and trading if it involves a company, he said. Awang Adek said the Central Credit Reference Information System, a system developed and monitored by Bank Negara Malaysia, gathers, stores and discloses a person's or a company's credit information from banks and finance companies. He said private credit reporting agencies also played a complementary role to update information and data not available in the Central Credit Reference Information System. "This is to help expand the credit market besides contributing to the credit market's overall stability and Malaysia's financial system," he added. -- BERNAMA Malaysia