The Central Bank of West African States (Bceao) and the International Finance Corporation (Ifc), a member of the World Bank Group, will launch, within UMOA, a campaign to raise awareness of the general public aimed at better understanding the services offered by the credit information bureaus (Bic).

In the Umoa zone, the lack of credit information is one of the main obstacles to financial inclusion. This is also the reason why the Central Bank of West African States decided, in 2013, to create Credit Information Offices (Bic) whose management is entrusted to the company Créditinfo which began its activities in February 2016. If, four years later, significant progress has been made, the fact remains that there is still a long way to go to encourage the support of the populations of Umoa to this tool. It is from this angle that we must understand the public awareness campaign that the BCEAO and the International Finance Corporation are preparing to launch. “This campaign aims to raise awareness among the populations of Umoa, in particular consumers and businesses, of their rights in terms of sharing credit data. It is, in fact, a question of encouraging their adhesion to the Bic by using the solvency reports to verify the information on the credit concerning them and, if necessary, formulate complaints to correct them in the event of error, ”informs a press release. of the BCEAO. This data mainly concerns information relating to identifying data, the history of reimbursements and commitments entered into with financial institutions and major billers (electricity, water, telecommunications, mobile telephone companies, etc.), including quality is taken into account in the process of granting credit to customers.

The Regional Credit Information Office which covers the eight countries of Umoa is the result of all the efforts made within the framework of the Bic promotion project initiated by the Bceao with the technical and financial support of the Financial Company international.