The establishment of the credit bureau is likely to increase credit business, lead to more competitive pricing of credit facilities and lower credit loan defaults and delinquency rates. To address the concerns over the treatment of credit data, MAS would follow two broad principles. 1  Refers to the submission of customer’s payment histories on their credit facilities. Positive data refers to timely payment (i.e. a good customer) and negative data refers to overdue payments. 2  BIS Review 7/2002  First, it is important that individuals have access to their own credit files and to have any inaccurate information corrected. Any dispute resolution process should be timely and effective, and should also be covered in the Consumer Banking Code that ABS is currently working on. Second, it is also important that individual privacy is respected and customer data are not misused for purposes other than what they were originally intended for. A good starting point is the principle of reciprocity on data usage, which all participating members to the bureau will need to adhere to. High standards of confidentiality is also expected of both the bureau operators and participating members. The ABS will continue to work with MAS to ensure that these principles are observed. The launch of the consumer credit bureau will mark the beginning of a new risk management process in Singapore. It will further bolster the integrity and transparency of Singapore’s financial sector.
Apart from ensuring that our regulatory framework is progressive and our infrastructure is world class, MAS is also taking an active approach to promoting industry best practices in risk management. The guidelines that we have introduced are steps in this direction. This Risk Conference is another such initiative. The objective of organising such a conference is to highlight emerging fields in risk management by bringing together risk practitioners and academics, to share their experiences and exchange ideas. Such a forum will help the industry and regulators keep abreast of the latest developments in financial risk management I hope you will find this first Risk Conference that MAS has organised useful and fruitful. Thank you. BIS Review 7/2002  3