28 Mar 2006 10:04

Experian-Interfax provides first credit history to russian bank

The Experian-Interfax credit history bureau for the first time in Russian history has provided information to a bank in response to its inquiry about a potential borrower, making it the first Russian credit history bureau to start its activity, in compliance with all procedures stipulated by the law.

"This is a historic day for the Russian financial services sector," Interfax Group Chairman and CEO Mikhail Komissar has said. "We can say now that the law on credit bureaus has begun working in full, which should provide conditions for setting up an efficiently working system for evaluating credit risks on the consumer crediting market," he said.
Experian-Interfax was entered into the register of credit history bureaus about a month ago.
The bureau‘s technical center has undergone the full range of tests and audits to verify its compliance with all Russian and international security standards.
Over 150 banks that concluded affiliation contracts with Experian-Interfax recently started providing the bureau with information on their borrowers, who gave their consent to this.
The Kuznetsky Most bank has become the first lending institution to be provided with a credit history of its potential borrower. "We were meticulous in choosing a credit bureau and have done a lot of preparatory work together with it," said Anver Setyukov, the bank‘s Chairman. "This has enabled us to start exchanging information with the bureau in line with the law in a brief period of time," Setyukov said.

*** Experian-Interfax was founded in October 2004 on a parity basis by Interfax Information Services Group, a major provider of information and services for the financial market, and Experian, a global business information solutions leader, which has credit bureaus in 12 countries, including in the U.S. and UK.
Experian-Interfax offers information as to whether potential borrowers are in a position to repay their loans and seeks to provide both borrowers and creditors with better defense against credit risks.