Kamruzzaman Bablu :
Bangladesh Bank’s Credit Information Bureau (CIB) stores all the borrowers’ information. Only banks and financial institutions can get the information of any borrower from there paying a certain amount as fee.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has decided to open the window to receive from the CIB the reports at the individual level as well. As a result, any customer can collect his information directly. The central bank is going to implement the system on the World Bank’s advice.
The international organization thinks that this will reduce the amount of the defaulted loans in the banking sector of Bangladesh. The debt amount will fall, while the defaulters can be easily identified as well.
Besides, the information about the security assets can also be collected.
As a result, the bank will be able to know about the borrowing capacity of a customer.
Sources said, Bangladesh Bank has already sent a circular to all commercial banks to increase the scale of existing CIB for implementation
of this new plan. There are instructions to submit information in online also.
It is mentioned that from now on, the information of ongoing and arrears will have to be submitted separately. Until now, all loan informations were given together. At the same time all the loan proposals have to be submitted to the CIB.
According to sources, the database of assets pledged as collateral by the borrowers will be linked with the CIB software. It is easy to know the borrowing limit of a customer. If anyone wants to sanction a loan, he can get support therefrom.
Meanwhile, the bankers think that the issue is a landmark decision.
“This is a very good initiative. CIB information needs to be open to everyone. This will allow customers to know their total loan information. At the same time, defaulters will also know their condition,” Mohammad Shams-ul Islam, Managing Director of Agrani Bank, told the New Nation on Wednesday.
On condition of anonymity, Central Bank officials said that at present, information on individual or institutional loan is stored in the CIB. But there are all the loan information together. From there the defaulter has to be identified individually which is little difficult.
But from now on, all past and current loans are being kept separately in the inquiry module of CIB’s online system. That means, it have been made to identify the defaulting loans separately. This will make the central bank’s CIB stronger. The Inquiry Module has been developed with Bangladesh Bank’s own manpower.
As a result, all the information of a customer’s outstanding loan will be available in a moment. It is easy to know the amount of outstanding loan of a borrower in which bank. By analyzing this information, the bank will be able to decide on the disbursement of new loans.
At present, banks have to take CIB report in the name of the borrower to approve any new loan. No defaulting borrower can take out a new loan. Earlier it was processed on paper. Even fake CIB reports were made and submitted to the bank. The CIB is done online to get rid of this.
Candidates wishing to contest in election will be able to collect their own CIB reports themselves under the new management.
On the other hand, the Election Commission can check and sort information instantly about any person or any organization.
According to sources, one of the main reasons for the increase in defaulted loans in Bangladesh is corruption in the loan disbursement process. It does not follow the process with clarity. The World Bank thinks so.
The organization advises Bangladesh Bank to make all loan information available to all. It will be easy to know about the defaulters. The amount of assets of a customer will also be mentioned separately. As a result, Bangladesh Bank will be able to fix the credit limit of the customers.
CIB was introduced in Bangladesh Bank on 16 August 1992. The online service was launched in 2011. The new service was launched on an extended basis from October 1, 2015.
