The 9th World Consumer Credit Reporting Conference (October 19/21 2014 Grand Hyatt Dubai) was an outstanding success with over 300 credit information and financial services professionals attending.
The event was organized by CDIA, the Consumer Data Industry Association (USA), ACCIS, the European Association for Consumer Credit Information Services, and the Credit Bureau of Saudi Arabia (SIMAH).
Key topics centered on economic growth and the extension of credit facilitated by the availability of accurate, reliable and timely information. The credit information element in lending was a core theme throughout the opening address of H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Hamidy, Director General & Chairman of the Board, Arab Monetary Fund (AMF). Other topics centered on Cybersecurity, Consumer and SME Lending, Impact of CRA’s on the economy and Credit Reporting Growth in the GCC Region.
Concerning regulatory oversight of credit reporting there appeared to be some consensus that this may be still essential in certain markets. Nevertheless the commentary from the US and Europe indicated that excessive oversight is now hindering innovation and growth (*)
The WCCRC is a global event that specifically covers the subject of consumer credit reporting, bringing together companies and organizations from around the world to discuss developments in this increasingly important industry. The WCCRC takes place every two years and rotates to key locations across the globe. Previous conferences were held in Rome, San Francisco, Sydney, Beijing, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Taipei and Dubai.
(*) The Financial Times (FT) published on August 5th, 2014 a provocative analysis of the effects of Data Protectionism’ on GDP growth. The FT opines that there is a strong possibility of a significant GDP contraction as a result of local data protection rules. The contraction in the EU, China, South Korea could be as much as 1.1% (assuming full data localization).
