Russia: the operations of the credit bureau with CRIF among the founding members started

CRIF is one of the founding members of the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBCH), who has chosen TU CRIF Decision Solutions LLC, a joint venture between CRIF and Trans Union, as strategic and technological partner. TU CRIF Decision Solutions LLC is supplying the organization with specialized credit bureau technologies and its operational and managerial expertise.

The bureau has signed agreements for service with more than 230 banks, with another 400 agreements expected to be signed shortly.

Other founding members involved in the project include: the Russian Banking Association (ARB), Vneshtorgbank, GE Capital, Citibank, Alfa-Bank, Rosbank, Gazprombank, Impexbank, Petrocommerz Bank, the AK BARS bank, Uniastrum Bank, Zenit Bank, the First Czech-Russian Bank and the non-commercial partnership of National Bureau of Credit Histories. Moreover, according to Garegin Tosunyan, President of the Association of Russian Banks and among NBCH founders, another 26 banks have planned to acquire NBCH' shares, from an additional issue. In one or two weeks, the National Bureau of Credit Histories is expected to obtain a state registration number for such an additional issue, which will increase its authorized capital from 28 million to 126 million rubles ($4.44 million).
NBCH President, Alexander Klychkov, announced NBCH's plans to create a database with at least 10 millions of credit histories of both businesses and consumers within its first year of operation, in order to allow lenders to estimate credit risk more accurately.

"Credit Bureau working - explains Carlo Gherardi, CRIF C.E.O. - will enable Russian businesses and consumers to obtain credit in less time and at better conditions, also safeguarding them from the risk of excessive indebtedness."