Central Bank of the Russian Federation

06/10/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/11/2021 02:01

Bank of Russia recognises Joint-stock Company United Credit Bureau as qualified

The Bank of Russia decided to recognise the credit history bureau Joint-stock Company United Credit Bureau (Reg. No. 077-00009-002 in the state register of credit history bureaus; hereinafter, JSC UCB) as qualified.1

According to the law,2 JSC UCB is considered qualified starting from the date of entering the information of the decision to recognise it as such in the state register of credit history bureaus, i.e. from 10 June 2021.

A qualified credit history bureau3 must comply with the established criteria4 and in addition provide creditors (lenders) with information on average monthly payments of individual credit history holders for the calculation of borrowers' debt-to-income ratio which is used by creditors (lenders) to assess risks and make a loan issuance decision.

A qualified credit history bureau is subject to higher requirements, in particular, with regard to their infrastructure, which must ensure the receipt of information required to calculate borrowers' debt-to-income ratio almost in real time. This information will be exchanged through the use, among other things, of a unified application programming interface (API).5

The state register of credit history bureaus contains the latest information on credit history bureaus recognised as qualified.

1 In line with Part 2 of Article 15.1 of Federal Law No. 218-FZ, dated 30 December 2004, 'On Credit Histories'.

2 Part 4 of Article 15.1 of Federal Law No. 218-FZ, dated 30 December 2004, 'On Credit Histories'.

3 The establishment of a new institution, qualified credit history bureau, is envisaged by Federal Law No. 302-FZ, dated 31 July 2020, 'On Amending the Federal Law 'On Credit Histories' with Regard to Modernising the System of Credit History Formation' in force since 1 January 2021.

4 The criteria are stipulated in Part 1 of Article 15.1 of Federal Law No. 218-FZ, dated 30 December 2004, 'On Credit Histories'.

5 The procedure governing the interaction between credit history users, credit history bureaus, including qualified credit history bureaus, with qualified credit history bureaus using the application programming interface (API) for the provision of data on credit history holders' average monthly payments is published on the Bank of Russia website.

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