CRIB plans to enhance its customer services through digital on boarding

DRP Commissioner General Pradeep Saputhanthri (left) and CRIB Director/General Manager Pushpike Jayasundara

In a significant move to elevate its customer services in obtaining your own credit report, the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka (CRIB) is set to revamp its digital on boarding process.

CRIB, being the sole credit bureau in the country, empowers individuals and businesses by providing easy access to their credit reports through various channels, including online platforms and banking applications.

Under the legal mandate, all licensed banks and non-bank financial institutions are required to report newly granted credit facilities on a monthly basis. This includes diverse financial transactions such as loans, credit cards, leases, factoring, margin trading, letters of credit, and more. To facilitate this, CRIB has implemented a state-of-the-art Credit Information Management System and ICT infrastructure, ensuring seamless integration with all financial institutions.

This collection of credit information processes is aligned with global practices aimed at maintaining financial stability and promoting responsible credit behaviour in order to improve credit access to the general public within Sri Lanka’s formal financial sector. CRIB manages around 10 million facilities belonging to approximately 6.7 million individuals on a monthly basis, representing a remarkable 41% of the adult population in Sri Lanka.

Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka facilitates any individual or a business entity to access his or her credit information in the bureau through varied means of access modes. Every customer who requests his or her credit information, receives as a report called “Self Inquiry Credit Report” or popularly known as “CRIB iReport”. The Bureau issues iReports through different online modes ensuring easy and convenient access to the general public on a 24/7 basis. Online service is available through: ‘Customer Access Portal (CAP) for unregistered users via www.crib.lk; ‘myReport’ web portal for registered users via www.crib.lk and users of selected internet banking channels.

In addition to online services, CRIB accommodates walk-in customers to get their iReports at the main CRIB office situated at No 201, Sir James Peiris Mawatha, Colombo 02, during office hours. The customers also can send their applications through any bank branch situated in any part of the country, so that customers are able to receive his/her iReport to the specified personnel address by registered post.

In order to further improve the ongoing digitalisation process, the bureau intends to introduce measures to digitally on board above two categories of customers who are presently not being captured in the system and thereby ensuring digital footprint of all users of CRIB services. 

As CRIB ventures into this transformative phase, matching a robust customer verification with streamlined service delivery remains a top priority. The bureau’s strategic digital on boarding initiative reflects its commitment to harnessing technology for the benefit of its users while upholding the highest standards of data integrity and security.

However, in the process of issuing iReports to the manual and unregistered online users, the bureau has to adopt a stringent customer verification process to ensure that the information is released to intended and legitimate users. Recognising its significance, CRIB has incorporated multiple measures into the user verification process to guarantee the validity and accuracy of NIC information. The delays encountered due to screening has always been a matter of concern of service standards. 

Nevertheless, CRIB, while ensuring its resolute commitment to serve the public, always reserves the right to act diligently not to compromise the integrity and the confidentiality of information it carries within the ambit of its statutory obligation. 

In this endeavour, CRIB recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department for Registration of Persons (DRP) to obtain online facility offered by the department for verification of NIC details of individuals through an online service portal. 

Integration of this service offering within the bureau’s customer service process is expected to help CRIB to carry out customer due diligence effectively and speedily. This step further elevates the ongoing digital on boarding process to its next level of digitalisation of the bureau services.

Integration with DRP for verification of NIC details will enhance the bureau’s ability to proactively act on any reporting discrepancies which earlier would have been addressed on a case by case basis, reported as customer disputes. 

The MOU was signed by DRP Commissioner General Pradeep Saputhanthri and CRIB Director/General Manager Pushpike Jayasundara on 13 December 2023 at the Department head office in Battaramulla. 

The dedicated teams at CRIB and DRP are currently engaged in expediting the initial registration process, aiming for a more efficient and swift completion. Both institutions are unwavering in their commitment to enhance services, ensuring a mobilised and improved customer experience for the general public.