The first credit bureau has opened in Nigeria, with a mission to provide lenders with information about borrowers, to facilitate access to credit.

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The owner-organisations are nine deposit money institutions, namely United Bank for Africa (UBA), First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) , IBTC Chartered Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Diamond Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and Access Bank.

The 10th investor is D & B, a leading global credit information service provider in the country.

Incorporated in Nigeria as a private limited liability in the name of Credit Reference Company (CRC), the bureau is established to compile public record data, including statutory information, identity information, credit transactions and payment histories of individuals and organizations.

The bureau would provide needed information to subscribers, including negative and positive reports on borrowers to assist financial institutions in their lending activities.

Chief Executive Officer, D & B, Rajesh Mirchandani said in Lagos on Thursday at the opening of the company in Nigeria, that CRC will transform Nigeria’s credit industry by providing the much needed information to credit providers as a tool for enabling better informed lending decisions and loans management.

He pointed out that due to the absence of consolidated credit information in the country for a long time, a large number of consumers and small business borrowers were excluded from the credit market.

"CRC will serve the consumer small businesses and commercial lending segments by maintaining a data base of comprehensive up-to-date information on borrowers and providing credit information report to subscribers," Mirchandani added.

According to the D & B chief, CRC will not be involved in the credit decision process, but will provide standard credit information reports to subscribers, who can make better-informed decisions based on consolidated borrower information.

Also speaking, the chairman, Business Track Committee of the Bureau, Chika Mordi said CRC will improve consumer banking in the country, as it will play very important roles.

Mordi, who is also the executive director, investment banking, UBA pointed out that the industry had been constrained in the past in the ability to make informed decision on the credit worthiness of non-corporate customers, who have limited and often times unreliable financial information, stressing that with CRC there is going to be a change.

The credit bureau proposes to commence operations with the provision of Standard Credit Information Reports (CIRs) to business users and subscribers. It intends to expand service offerings over time to fraud and dispute analysis, identity verification, credit scoring, historical and behavior statistics, application processing and portfolio monitoring among others.

Technically, Accenture and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are backing CRC.