Timely and accurate credit information is critical to a well-functioning financial industry and essential for any government to maintain financial stability.

About a third of credit bureaus consider only negative data and provide an incomplete, and often inaccurate, assessment of a borrower’s risks. Governments should collect comprehensive data on each level of business in each sector. Data should also be made available to registries and bureaus to improve their abilities in providing public services, creating policy, and conducting statistical analysis, but individuals should be allowed to protect data from others.

These comprehensive data, paired with those from other sources, can present an accurate and complete description of an individual so financial services can be better tailored to suit individual needs.

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Read the policy brief

https://www.adb.org/publications/financial-inclusion-digital-age

About the authors

Shawn Hunter is manager of inclusive finance at the Foundation for Development Cooperation.

David Dole is senior capacity building and training economist at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).

Valdimir dela Cruz was an associate at ADBI at the time this policy brief was written.

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