Uganda CRB Access to Finance for the underserved

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Uganda is the first country in the EAC to have a private credit bureau back in May 2008. However, the bureau coverage is still low due various legal and operational challenges. Currently most of the Tier IV institutions including rural SACCOS and MFIs which serve marginalized groups are not obliged to submit their data. Mobile money providers are also not sharing data with the credit information sharing system. As a result, individuals, MSMEs, small holder farmers and refugees who have accessed credit from these lenders are not able to have credit histories. This has also heightened the potential risk for over indebtedness. Although there are ongoing efforts to address the legal challenges most of the small credit providers face financial, human and technological constraints which hinders their capacity to participate in the ecosystem effectively. The project aims to expand access to finance for smallholder farmers, MSMEs and refugees which are undeserved, by strengthening the credit information ecosystem and supporting financial institutions to make data driven lending decisions through the following sequenced interventions: (i) Expand credit information sharing perimeter by onboarding of non-bank financial institutions; (ii) Promote adoption and usage of alternative data for credit decision making and portfolio performance monitoring through capacity building support and regulatory reforms; (iii) Promote the optimal usage of credit information sharing system through a capacity building support to regulators, lenders and consumers.; (iv) Support the unique identification of borrowers by helping bureaus to migrate from financial card to the National ID; and (v) Support regulators to crisis proof the credit information sharing systems.