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Preface
In 2001, the International Finance Corporation
(IFC) launched the Global Credit Bureau Program.
Since the launch of the program, the IFC has supported the development of credit bureaus in over
40 countries through technical assistance and
investment,including support to the regional credit bureau in Central America and the first private
credit bureau in Egypt, work on the legal and regulatory framework in Kenya and Panama, and
ongoing assistance towards the development of a
private bureau in Vietnam. The IFC, together with
the World Bank, began monitoring the credit
reporting environment in over 100 countries,
and
the results are included and disseminated through
the Doing Business report.
The content of this Credit Bureau
Knowledge Guide reflects the IFC’s experience
with credit bureau markets, and its purpose is to
provide a comprehensive overview of the development of credit bureaus. IFC’s experience in
emerging markets indicates that global knowledge
on credit bureaus is fragmented, much like the
credit information sharing environment itself in
most emerging market countries.The objective of
this guide is, therefore, to disseminate best
practices in credit bureau development and further contribute to the development of credit
bureaus in emerging markets.
The Credit Bureau Knowledge Guide was
prepared by a team led by Nataliya Mylenko and comprising the members of the IFC Global Credit
Bureau Program team: Tony Lythgoe, Oscar
Madeddu, Colin Raymond, Shalini Sankaranarayan,
Peter Sheerin,and Stefano Stoppani. The work was
carried out under the general direction of Peer
Stein. The authors would like to thank colleagues
in the World Bank Group for their continuous support of the Global Credit Bureau Program work
and preparation of this Guide.We are also grateful
for the generous contributions of the credit
bureaus around the world that made possible the
development and publication of this Guide. We
would particularly like to acknowledge the design,
layout,and production support of Aichin Lim Jones
and editorial assistance of Madeline Nevins.
We would like to acknowledge the support
of our donors, without whom the Global Credit
Bureau Program’s activities would not have been
possible. Specifically we would like to thank the
Italian government for its support of our activities
in Eastern Europe and Latin America and the
Caribbean;
the government of the Netherlands for
its support of our activities in Africa; the
Norwegian government for overall program
support and support of our activities in Africa; the
Australian government for its support of our activities in Vietnam; the government of New Zealand
for its support of our activities in Pakistan and
Indonesia; and Visa International for global
program support.
We hope this Guide will prove both informative and useful.