The government has submitted a bill to parliament regarding credit bureaus.
It is expected that within the next few days the Committee on Finance and Economic Development will start discussing this project, the purpose of which is to create a system of credit bureaus.
The government behind this project aims to enable lending institutions to better assess the credit risks of potential borrowers, especially vulnerable people or those who suffer from lack of access to financial services, as well as to promote financial stability and encourage responsible access. to funding.
The bill defines credit bureaus as “companies that operate in Morocco, regardless of the nationality of the shareholders in their capital or the nationality of their managers, and regularly process information, within the meaning of this law, for commercial purposes.” purposes, including value-added services authorized by Before Bank Al-Maghrib.
It aims to regulate the activities of credit bureaus in order to facilitate responsible access to finance and promote financial stability.
According to the same bill, every credit bureau must be accredited by the Wali of Al-Maghrib Bank before doing business in Morocco.
It provides for the creation of a credit bureau in the form of a joint-stock company with fixed capital, the shares of which must be registered, and its social headquarters is in Morocco.
It also provides for the requirement for the consumer to freely and expressly give his informed consent to information providers transferring information about him, including his personal data, to the credit bureau and thus making it available for viewing by information users.
In the same context, the bill defines the persons with whom credit information bureaus enter into contracts for the needs of providing credit information in credit organizations or equivalent bodies, as well as transport network operators, the lists of which are jointly limited by Al-Maghrib Bank and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, as well as persons subject to private law. Persons authorized to operate the utility and other persons subject to public or private law who are in possession of information as defined by law.
Credit bureaus are free to set the price list for the information services they provide, and it is necessary to inform Al-Maghrib Bank and information users about the current prices for the provision of their services and about any changes in these prices.
In addition, the bill requires each information provider to obtain and retain consumer’s prior consent in connection with the release of related information to credit bureaus, inform users of that information, and ensure consumers’ right to access and correct their data when necessary. It also required that lending institutions or bodies deemed equivalent use the information provided to them by credit bureaus when considering each loan request, loan restructuring or restructuring, and generally when evaluating their client portfolio.
