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The foundations of trust

Sponsored: For over five years, the Credit Bureau Cambodia has brought much needed transparency and security to an industry that is only as good as the quality of information it is built upon

August 23, 2017
The foundations of trust
CBC ‘s Interim-CEO Ouer Sothearoath

The Credit Bureau Cambodia (CBC)’s mission is a simple one: to provide reliable information to financial institutions in order to reduce the risks associated with lending. Since its inception in 2012, it has handled over 15 million credit inquiries and played a crucial role in keeping the country’s non-performing loans below 2%. Later this year, it will release the country’s first ever commercial credit reporting platform, an innovation that will offer myriad benefits to “all commercial or specialised banks providing loans to legal entities or companies”.

“Currently, banks are issuing loans to companies without fully understanding what is the level of the debt of that company, what is the payment behaviour of that company,” said Oeur Sothearoath, the bureau’s interim CEO. “Our platform will help the banks better understand their customers and, as such, will simplify their loan processes.”

It is crucial work, especially in a country where as little as 5% of the population has a bank account, according to the professional services firm KPMG. But CBC does more than gather the essential information needed to mitigate the risks of operating in such a market, it also analyses the data for its members, saving them valuable time and money.

Taking into account an individual’s credit commitments, enquiry and payment behaviours, CBC leverages its own proprietary technology to assign a single score to each individual based on their creditworthiness. Known as the K-Score, or Khmer Score, it provides lenders with a precise picture of an individual’s ability to pay back a loan. In addition to the K-Score, CBC members are also given full access to the bureau’s detailed consumer credit and data analysis reports, as well as a host of online and offline analytic and monitoring tools.

“Financial institutions can either access the data by going to our webpage or they can build a B2B connection with our database,” said Oeur Sothearoath. “Whichever way they choose, they will get a report within a second – they’re both real-time systems.”

Since the National Bank of Cambodia issued a prakas on credit reporting in 2011, all financial institutions operating in Cambodia are obligated to upload 100% of their loan customers’ information. Consequently, CBC has a data set that is unparalleled in the Kingdom – both in terms of its size and its accuracy, making it the country’s leading provider of financial information, analytical solutions and credit reporting services



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