Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh Bank is ready to provide its Credit Information Bureau (CIB) reports to the banks and financial institutions within five working days of request from Wednesday.

“We’ll provide CIB reports to the banks and financial institutions within five working days in line with our service standard,” Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, Executive Director AHM Kai Khasru told reporters at a press briefing at the central bank in Dhaka on Thursday.

He also said the central bank has been able to settle over 60,000 requests for CIB reports, backlogged for long, since introduction of double shifts on May 18, 2009.

The requests for CIB reports have piled up during the period of updating the list of loan defaulters by the central bank before the last parliament and upazila elections, Mr. Khasru said while explaining the reasons for the backlog.

“We’ll provide our CIB reports to the banks and financial institutions through online from October 2010,” he said, adding that the central bank has already appointed CRIF, an Italian company, to implement the automation project.

The demand for such reports has increased significantly due mainly to inclusion of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the CIB reporting system, the BB executive added.

The central bank of Bangladesh earlier included SMEs’ credit information under the CIB reporting system to improve risk management of the banking sector.

Under the existing provisions, outstanding loan worth a minimum of US$725 (BDT 50,000) are included in the CIB reporting system.

The CIB was set up on August 18, 1992 in the central bank aiming to improve credit risk management and reduce the extent of default loan.

BBN/SS/SI/AD-01July09-12:45 am (BST)