Updated June 18, 2008

   Banks engaged in the retail lending will before long have an additional opportunity of prospective borrowers’ estimation. National credit bureau (NCB) clients will get access to debtors’ database of the largest fixed-line telecommunication operator – Rostelecom. According to experts’ calculations, the number of debtors totals more than 2 million people.

   NCB director general Vladimir Maleev said Rostelecom intended to interchange information about debtors with other telecommunication market participants. In Rostelecom confirmed the company had joined D-telecom system – the system of information interchange concerning telecommunication operators monitoring in arrears.

   D-telecom already lists such participants as MTS, MegaFon, Vimpelkom and some other large telecommunication operators. However, NCB as project manager has been lobbing Rostelecom joining in particular for more than 6 months. Fixed-line operator prospective debtors’ number is more than mobile operators’ number. Subscribers’ stake paying mobile connection on loan is rather small. According to experts estimations, debtors number of Vimpelkom offering the maximum number of loan tariffs totals 100 000 – 200 000 people. As calculated by Cordina Telecom head Alexandr Malis, debtors total around 5% in the subscriber base of fixed-line operators. It is more than 2 million people for Rostelecom.

   Banking market participants can receive information about Rostelecom debtors through NCB as well. As Vladimir Maleev explained, the market participants in their turn wait for the analogical step from bankers – information about their unreliable borrowers.

   Rostelecom is the largest Russia’s operator of domestic and international connection. Telecommunication market stake is around 60%, and the company renders services to more than 40 million subscribers – individuals. According to 2007 results, Rostelecom profit totaled RUR 62,6 billion, net income was RUR 9,4 billion. Svyazinvest owns 51% of the company stocks.

   National credit bureau was founded in 2005. Today it lists around 50 commercial banks as clients. Within the framework of NCB noncommercial partnership, except for D-telecom, such projects as CreditNet, reference and information system of markets’ and companies’ analysis, and Dun & Bradstreet, system of information providing about foreign companies, are realized.

   In NCB hope the new offer for bankers would allow the bureau to extend substantially its clients’ base. "Rostelecom has a large clients’ base – individuals, and information about them permits bankers to authorize more thoroughly prospective borrowers’ solvency and use it to build scoring models", as explained Mr. Maleev

   However, bankers have differently estimated the new NCB offer. Roman Vorobev, member of Raiffaisenbank board, was quoted as saying that not all bankers are interested in the full information volume about debtors of fixed-line operator. "There is a difference between a man who went on a vacation and did not pay RUR 20, and a man who constantly disregards bills", he says. "Banks interest to this NCB service would depend on how they would sell it – if by a package with a borrower credit history, then client consistency concerning municipal services payment would be an interesting stroke to his portrait", supposes Alfa Bank retail department block head Aleksey Marey. However, as marked Mr. Marey, the fact of debt to Rostelecom is not an obvious minus – some clients prefer to pay Rostelecom services once or twice a year. And information about client debt to Rostelecom can be valuable in case he does not have a credit history at all.

   Experts also mark that value of Rostelecom debtors’ base for banks would depend on a degree of its protection. Credit Bank of Moscow director of retail business department Lyudmila Saligina considers that banks would agree on information cooperation with mobile operators, if they could get information not from an open source, but from unique one.