CRIF acquires Credit Bureau in Kyrgyzstan

CRIF, a global company specializing in credit bureau and business information, outsourcing and processing services, and advanced solutions for credit and open banking, has signed an agreement to acquire 70% of “Safe&Sound CJSC”, a credit bureau company in Kyrgyzstan. With the acquisition, the company name becomes "CRIF KG CJSC".

Founded in 2018, Safe&Sound CJSC was looking for a partner who could contribute, from both a strategic and technological point of view, to the development of the business in the country.

The strategy of the new Kyrgyzstan credit bureau will be to create a platform that, in addition to data from the financial world, will also manage information from alternative data sources such as telcos, insurance companies, and utilities, and in particular e-Government information, which in Kyrgyzstan are centralized in a single platform called Tunduk. In addition to this, CRIF KG CJSC will focus on “Cross-Border Data Exchange” between countries belonging to the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) that have signed an agreement for the exchange of information.

Thanks to its proven track record in the design and development of credit information systems worldwide, CRIF will manage information sent by Kyrgyzstan organizations through an advanced technology platform, which will integrate and consolidate all data on the reliability of a credit applicant into a single report.

Through its globally recognized experience in providing 360° lending solutions, CRIF will develop a set of value added services, offering significant advantages in the identification and assessment of customer creditworthiness.

“We are glad to be part of this new project in Kyrgyzstan, which reflects CRIF’s interest in and commitment to the region,” commented CRIF Chairman Carlo Gherardi. “CRIF has robust and recognized experience in operating and managing credit bureaus in very diverse environments, and we are confident we will bring significant advantages to the assessment of customer creditworthiness, reliability and level of indebtedness in Kyrgyzstan.”

“We strongly believe that this acquisition will bring important benefits to Kyrgyzstan organizations and their end customers; at the same time, it represents another important step in the consolidation of CRIF’s presence in Central Asia. With a wide presence in Europe and Asia, CRIF can truly offer integrated solutions across some of the world’s most important and strategic trade routes,” commented Simone Belluomo, CRIF Regional Market Leader.