BENEFIT, Mala’a sign agreement to exchange credit information

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

In an effort to enhance the frameworks of mutual cooperation between the Gulf countries, BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, signed a bilateral agreement with the Oman Credit and Financial Information Center (Mala’a).

BENEFIT has signed the agreement to exchange credit information between Bahrain Credit Reference Bureau (BCRB), operated by the BENEFIT Company, with the Oman Credit and Financial Information Center (Mala’a) in the capital Muscat.

The agreement was represented by Abdulwahed AlJanahi, the CE of BENEFIT and Bassam Al-Jamali, General Manager of Mala’a Center.

This agreement is an extension of the strategic scheme to further connect the GCC countries, which previously saw similar agreements signed with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the state of Kuwait.

It entails the exchange of corporate credit information between the two entities which will then be made available digitally for all members.

Abdulwahed AlJanahi expressed his delight in finalizing the agreement with the Mala’a, he said: “This move will benefit not only Bahrain and the Sultanate of Oman, as its effects will ripple across the whole GCC.

We are all working towards the important and common goal of enhancing the credit information industry in the region.

I can confirm that our rigorous studies of the credit market and the challenges and the opportunities that surround it are ongoing, and this agreement comes as a great milestone in this process”.

The General Manager of Mala’a Center, Bassam Al-Jamali, expressed his pleasure towards the signing of the bilateral agreement between Mala’a and BCRB, which he expects will enhance cooperation between the two sides and establish new links for communication and knowledge exchange, in addition to supporting the banking sector and improving the overall frameworks of credit and financial risk management.

The strategic project to exchange credit information between the Gulf countries is in compliance with the decision of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council, issued at the Council’s meeting in its thirty-seventh annual session in 2016, approving the exchange of credit information between the Council’s countries according to the work plan and the comprehensive framework for a mechanism to facilitate the exchange of credit information between the Council’s countries.