The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a consultation response on draft regulations and notices relevant to licensed credit bureaus under the Credit Bureau Act 2016.
According to Regulation Asia, the consultation was issued in October with the aim of better regulating credit bureaus and credit reporting business in areas such as fees, dispute resolution standards, technology risk management, data security, governance and cyber hygiene.
The consultation proposed that credit bureaus should be required to establish a Code of Conduct to govern issues such as the despite resolution process, where a Dispute Resolution must be created to solve complaints and data disputes.
Furthermore, the consultation called for an Approved Members Committee to review and coordinate operational topics concerning the credit reporting process between approved members and the credit bureau.
Through its consultation response, MAS stated that the requirements under the Code of Conduct will be expanded to cover matters linked to data reporting, data integrity and the operational risk of credit reporting processes.
MAS also remarked that the Approved Members Committee will include the responsibility of making policy recommendations concerning the credit reporting process between a credit bureau and its approved members.
Furthermore, MAS will extend the period for a licensed credit bureau and approved to complete the investigation and correction process for disputed data to 10 business days from the date a request was received. The data submission frequency from approved members to a licensed credit bureau will be changed from a weekly to a monthly basis.
MAS claimed there is no longer a need for the proposed 12-month transition period to meet these requirements, with a transitional period of six months for the requirements to form a Dispute Resolution Committee and Approved Members Committee to take effect.
MAS concluded that credit bureaus will be subject to similar technology risk management requirements and cybersecurity measures as required of other Singapore-based financial institutions.
MAS recently convened a green finance task force that issued a slew of initiatives for financial institutions to enhance climate-related disclosures and green capabilities.
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