Tajikistan’s First Credit Bureau Contributes to Private Sector Development

Access to finance is one of the foundations of private sector growth. The current financial market in Tajikistan needs further strengthening in order to secure financial stability and broaden access to finance. An important step in this direction has been made with the development of effective credit information-sharing in Tajikistan. 

The World Bank Group has been actively involved with the National Bank of Tajikistan in drafting and reforming credit information-sharing legislation since 2008. This effort resulted in the adoption, in March 2009, of the Law on Credit Histories, the passing of an amendment to the licensing law, October 2009, and the implementation of credit bureau regulations in February 2010.

The Credit Information Bureau of Tajikistan – or CIBT - was registered as a commercial entity in April 2010 and started operating three years later.

The CIBT is an effective mechanism for collecting information on all borrowers in the country in order to reduce risks in lending to private sector representatives and other borrowers.

The largest local banks and microfinance organizations in Tajikistan all have shares in the Credit Information Bureau of Tajikistan of and in 2012 CRIF - a global company specializing in the development and management of credit reporting, business information, and decision support systems - joined the CIBT by purchasing 49% of its shares.

Today the CIBT now draws from a database of credit histories of individuals and entities that was created as a result of cooperation with over 75 organizations from all regions of the country. Within just a short time, over 850,000 contracts have been signed to allow credit information on over 600,000 clients - individuals and small-and-medium enterprises – to be shared. More than 800 users, including banks and microfinance institutions, are active users of the CIBT system - with around 30,000 requests per month.

CIBT helps banks protect themselves from fraud and increases the competitiveness of financial institutions - while simultaneously helping entrepreneurs reduce their credit risks by providing consultations on the repayment of loans.

Looking forward, Rustam Mukhtarov, Executive Director of the CIBT, says the Bureau is now improving its ICT capabilities for connecting everyone in the country to CIBT services, regardless of where they live in the country. It is also working to identify partners on the ground to extend the CIBT presence in regions.

“The next important step for us is to look beyond financial institutions and connect all those companies that provide services to the population - telecom operators, utilities, home improvement stores, for example,” says Mr. Mukhtarov.

“Using our services, these companies will be able to provide their services to clients on a post-payment basis (providing service and then being paid by the customer) and thus leading to better development of the services sector while increasing the level of payments by customers - as they will care about their credit history.”

Largely due to the presence of a well-functioning, modern credit bureau built on international best practice principles, Tajikistan’s rating in the Getting Credit section of the World Bank’s Doing Business Report went from zero in 2014 to 6 in 2015 – adding Tajikistan to the list of top ten leaders.