Creditinfo Georgia will launch several million worth new system in September

TBILISI(BPI)- Creditinfo Georgia has invested several million GEL in the new Software to ensure the system stability. AS CEO of Creditinfo Georgia, Mr. Alexander Gomiashvili says, the new system will go live this September. We have discussed this and other important matters with Mr. Gomiashvili.

 

– Hello Mr. Alexander, the pandemic has given a significant impetus to companies to develop their systems, in your case what changes have been made?

The pandemic has of course forced all companies to accelerate a development of remote services in all areas of activity. The bureau switched to full remote operation mode in early spring 2020. This has, to some extent, hurt the customers who used to come to our office to request their credit history. That’s why a new platform of My Creditinfo service was developed together with Orient Logic team. This service allows all individuals to check their credit history three times a year for free. This requires registration and a transfer of 1 tetri for identification purposes. Thanks to this project, our customers can have an access to all our services online.

– Creditinfo Georgia is a very important part of the lending process in the country, because all credit organizations receive credit information from individuals or legal entities through your company, what changes are being made to further improve the stability of the system?

Of course, the sustainability of bureau systems is very important not only for the financial sector, but I would say for the whole country’s economy. That is why we decided to invest several million GEL in  the new system. The process started in 2019 and the new system will go live this September.

– There are expectations in the country that the economy is coming out of the shock of the pandemic, what can you tell us about the growth of lending and the dynamics of defaults?

As of June 2021, our database contains records of approximately 1,800,000 borrowers with current liabilities totaling approximately GEL 28 billion. Delays of more than 30 days are recorded in the case of up to 240,000 data subjects. Lending compared to the same period last year has slightly increased, and the share of overdue liabilities in the total liability – has decreased. I would also like to use the opportunity and mention that summary information on lending and overdue payments is available on our company website www.creditinfo.ge.

 

– Lending to individuals is quite well developed in the country, their access to finance is very high, what can you tell us about companies?

As you know, small and medium enterprises play an important role in the development of the economy and make a significant contribution to economic growth. Access to finance is one of the main challenges for the development and growth of small and medium enterprises. The bureau currently collects lending data of companies up to 3,000,000 GEL, although this is not enough to fully assess the credit risks of legal entities. According to the World Bank, the main obstacle to access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses is the lack of financial data. Unfortunately, reliable financial information about companies is not yet available in Georgia for further processing. World practice shows that proper processing of financial or other information significantly improves the credibility of companies and contributes to increased access to finance.

– As we already know, the introduction of Open Banking has started under the leadership of the National Bank, where do you see the role of the Bureau in this project?

This project is very important on the path of digital transformation and creates new opportunities for market development. We plan to apply to the National Bank of Georgia for a license and collect the data provided by open banking. Creditinfo Group already has licenses in several European countries. We also have experience of successful projects. Therefore, we think that banking data will further enhance the quality of reliability and efficiency of our products. The credit rating system should be highlighted here, which will be significantly improved by this type of data.

– At the end of the conversation, which new products/services the bureau will offer to its customers in the near future?

The company is developing in several directions. Very soon we will offer new services to both organizations and data subjects.

I would like to highlight the creation of a credit rating system for companies, which involves the creation of a mechanism for assessing the solvency of legal entities. The model will help credit organizations to partially automate the lending process.

Work is underway on the My Creditinfo mobile application, which will be introduced soon.  We are also developing an identification service, which will help organizations to identify / register customers in their own systems based on the My Creditinfo service.

Within the framework of the My Creditinfo project, it is planned to create a  marketplace, a platform for offering credit products, where organizations will have the opportunity to offer their own credit products to our customers. The platform will enable users to compare the terms of credit products of different organizations and make a decision when applying for a loan based on this information.

(R)

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