The number of subscribers to the Egyptian Credit Bureau “I-Score” has reached 913 banks, companies, and microfinance institutions.
According to a Saturday statement by the company, the I-Score database was expanded to 18.6 million individuals and 415,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at the beginning of December 2020.
I-Score maintains a database of credit information for SMEs and individual consumers. It obtained an operating license from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) in January 2008, and its primary work is to collect and classify the credit data of individuals and SMEs, according to the unified definition issued by CBE in order to issue the credit report and digital assessment.
I-Score database now holds almost 100% of credit data of individuals and SMEs from commercial banks in Egypt, thus providing a clear indicator to the lending community.
The company started commercial operation in July 2008 with four products, and currently offers the banking market 18 different products. It is working on adding 10 new products according to the 2020-2022 strategic plan, to contribute to providing services for credit risk management.
Within the framework of the state and the CBE’s direction towards digital transformation and financial inclusion, I-Score has signed several protocols with a number of ministries to work on electronic connectivity. These protocols include a cooperation protocol with the Internal Trade Development Agency to inquire about commercial records electronically, and a cooperation protocol with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to provide data for government agencies, and a cooperation protocol with the General Administration for Traffic to register vehicle bans electronically.
The company also made links with the Ministry of Justice to exchange bankruptcy and preventive reconciliation data electronically. In addition, a cooperation protocol was signed with the Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development to inquire about mortalities.
It is expected that, in the near future, a link will be made with the General Investment Authority to issue certificates of incorporation for companies, and inquire about partners before issuing certificates of incorporation.
I-Score has also been operating the Egyptian Collateral Registry (ECR), since March 2018, under the supervision of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), which improved Egypt’s ranking in the Doing Business report, especially the Getting Credit Index in 2020, ranking 67th instead of 90th in the 2017 report.
According to the company, the total number of registries in the ECR, until 1 December 2020, amounted to about 64,658, with a total value of EGP 721.2bn, and the number of parties involved in the services of the ECR reached 80 credit grantors.
