Client Information Sharing in Bolivia
This paper describes the Bolivian superintendency's credit bureau, which has operated the only legal credit bureau in Bolivia since 1988. Through this public credit bureau, the superintendency requires that all regulated financial institutions share information on their clients indebtedness and repayment histories on a monthly basis.
The database contains information on approximately one million clients, tracking 140 different variables on the regulated financial institution's clients and their guarantors. The superintendency:
- Collects client information and submits data at the end of each month for individual as well as corporate clients;
- Shares information online, as downloads and as written reports;
- Uses the information for loan decisions;
- Currently regulates 70 regulated financial institutions, including 13 banks, 13 credit unions, 7 Private Financial Funds (PFFs), and a number of cooperatives.
The paper points out the following limitations:
- Failure to include clients of non-regulated institutions, which are nearly 11% of the total loan clients;
- Time limits of the data as the data tracked is only of the past two months;
- Too many variables making it difficult to maneuver the database;
- Consumer lending and microfinance are housed in the same database.
The future plans of the superintendency are to:
- Include microfinance NGOs and foundations in data sharing;
- Overhaul and revise the database.
The paper concludes by mentioning that to provide a system that is sustainable far into the future, the superintendency must take costs into consideration as it builds the information network.
