Ho Chi Minh City, 11 March 2003 — The Mekong Project Development Facility (MPDF) has sponsored the organization of a roundtable on the concepts and the practice of "Credit Bureau” last week in Ho Chi Minh City.
Empirical research has shown that credit bureaus are critical to the expansion of credit, that the availability and use of credit bureau reports in credit decisions increase the quality of credit decisions and provide significant risk mitigation by minimizing fraud.
Furthermore, credit bureaus are a crucial building block that will allow lenders to expand access to financing for both consumers and small businesses, as credit information is necessary when applying modern financial technologies - like credit scoring - to credit decisions for these market segments. To this end, the development of a credit bureau in Vietnam would in turn strengthen the financial sector and contribute to sustainable economic growth the entrepreneurial capacities in the country.
Attended by more than 30 representatives from the 16 commercial banks and the State Bank of Vietnam and the State Securities Commission, the event has provided a forum for the discussion of the benefits and issues related to the creation and operation of credit bureaus, and the use of credit information in the credit management process.
Among speakers to the event, Mr. Peer Stein, Senior Investment Officer, International Finance Corporation (IFC) presented about the concepts of credit bureau and the role of credit information in lending decisions. Mr. Ngo Van Phuong, Deputy Director of Credit Information Center in Hanoi, led an useful discussion about the issues for application in Vietnam.
“By having access to readily available credit information, the lenders have a better chance to ensure the quality of their loans”, said Dr. Mario Fischel, MPDF General Manager. “MPDF is pleased to sponsor this event as another initiative in our program to strengthen the financial institutions in Vietnam”, he added.
MPDF is a multi-donor initiative of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Australia, Canada, Finland, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Facility was set up to support the development of the privately-owned small and medium enterprises (SME) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. MPDF is managed by the IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
