By Sophan Niwamanya
apearlnews.com
Savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOs) have asked the government to set up a system that regulates customers’ multiple loan borrowing from different financial institutions, saying that the habit hinders the proper operations of SACCOs.
This was revealed yesterday during the Annual General Meeting of Rukiga Savings and Credit Cooperative Society that was held at the SACCO head office hall in Muhanga town council, Rukiga district. The General Manager of Rukiga SACCO, JohnBosco Abaho, said that as SACCOs they don’t have the system of the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) company, which is licensed by the Bank of Uganda to collect and collate credit information on individuals and companies from various sources and disseminate that information in the form of a credit report to authorized users.
He added that the system is only used by commercial banks, saying that if SACCOs are given access to the credit reference bureau system that is used by financial institutions, this can help to give information about the borrowers’ loan acquisition and payment history, which is shared by lending institutions as a credit risk control measure.
Abaho said that some clients put the same property as security for different loans they acquire.
Speaking as the Chief Guest of Honor, the Minister of State of Finance for General Duties, Henry Musasizi, said that the government, through the Bank of Uganda, is in the process of introducing a system to ensure that in the future, all registered financial institutions get the system’s Credit Reference Bureau. He, however, questioned loan officers from different banks and SACCOs to desist from acquiring bribes from clients before approving them to get loans.
