WAEMU credit bureau reports: how to assess an empty report
Under a uniform law across the eight WAEMU countries, the BIC, run by Creditinfo West Africa, is the one licensed bureau, and supervised lenders must have its report in the file before lending. That makes the report a required step in a credit decision, while its reach depends on which lenders send information. Smaller lenders, retailers and utilities join by choice. An empty report may reflect that participation boundary. You need to read it alongside your own data and the other sources the client consents to, then own the decision.
An empty BIC report may miss borrowing
Read an empty or thin report as a coverage question to investigate. The BIC, or bureau d'information sur le crédit, is a credit bureau whose report reflects the providers that share information with it.
If you are supervised by the BCEAO and the Commission Bancaire, you must request the report before granting credit, keep it in the borrower’s file and report your loans. Other eligible providers, including SFDs supervised by the finance ministry, retailers and utilities, may choose to participate. The BCEAO describes the uniform law adopted for the UMOA, the West African Monetary Union, in its information on credit information bureaus. The UMOA has eight member states. They are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The UMOA Council of Ministers adopted the uniform law in June 2013, and each member state enacts it. Creditinfo West Africa has operated the BIC since 1 February 2016, after receiving its licence in Côte d’Ivoire in May 2015. Creditinfo West Africa operates the one licensed bureau across the union.
BIC databases and backups may be located in any member state. They may never be located outside the union.
The participation rules set the boundary of what the report can show.
| Who | Role | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Banks and SFD supervised by the BCEAO and Commission Bancaire | Must request a report before credit, keep it on file, report all loans | Art 60 |
| SFD supervised by the finance ministry | May join | Art 61 |
| Retailers, utilities, other credit or deferred payment providers | May join | Art 61 |
When a provider does not participate, borrowing with that provider may be absent from the BIC report. So an empty report tells you that the BIC returned no information for the applicant. It leaves other borrowing to be checked.
Consent is required before using a BIC report
Obtain the client’s prior, free and written consent, and keep it on file. Before asking, explain the purpose, the data categories, the BIC’s contact details, who may receive the information, the right not to appear in the database and the consequences, the retention period, and the rights of access and correction.
In Côte d’Ivoire, a law dated 24 March 2014, amended by an ordinance adopted on 27 January 2016, allows banks to transmit client data to the BIC without prior consent, as reported by the law firm CMS. Elsewhere, the consent rule is as the uniform law sets it.
| Step | The duty | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Before consent | Tell the client the purpose, data, BIC contacts, recipients, right to refuse, retention, rights | Art 44 |
| Consent | Prior, free and written, kept on file | Art 42, 60 |
| Before credit | A BIC report in the file (supervised lenders) | Art 60 |
| A refusal | Tell the client and give a copy of the report when it played a role | Art 47 |
| A dispute | The BIC forwards within 5 days, decides within 10 of the answer, withdraws after 30 | Art 48 to 52 |
| Retention | Distributed up to 5 years, archived 5 more | Art 41 |
A client can dispute information through the BIC or through a bank or SFD where they hold an account. The BIC forwards the dispute within five days, decides within ten days of the provider’s answer and sends the corrected report to every user that asked for one. If unresolved, the record is withdrawn from consultation after thirty days.
Use the report to assess solvency when granting credit or to recover a debt. If it contributes to refusing all or part of a request, tell the client and give them a copy. That duty applies when the report is one input among several, so record the role it played in the decision.
Compare the BIC report before deciding
When a report is empty, start with the information the applicant gave you and compare it with what you already hold. Then use other sources the client has consented to. The BIC may also draw on public registers and UMOA sources, including the banking Centrale des Risques, the BCEAO Centrale des Incidents de Paiement, the SFD Centrale des Risques and the Centrale des Bilans.
- Applicant information. Compare declared borrowing and repayment obligations with the report. A declared loan missing from the report is a discrepancy to resolve.
- Your own records. Check your existing relationship and exposure. A matching obligation adds information about the applicant’s commitments, even when the BIC report is empty.
- Other consented sources. Compare any returned information with the applicant’s account and your own records. Treat a match as corroboration, and a conflict as a question to verify before you use it.
If the checks confirm an obligation, include it in your assessment of the applicant’s capacity and exposure. If they return no additional information, the applicant’s borrowing remains unverified. Apply your credit policy to the information you have and record what the checks established.
Keep the decision independent of any single source. In the WAEMU, the BIC is required for supervised lenders, but optional participation sets a limit on its coverage. You own the decision, and the report’s role in a refusal must be clear to the client.
Decisimo lets you specify connections to REST APIs or SOAP web services as data sources in a decision flow. If a source call fails, the decision flow can route to a fallback branch, and the engine can return an outcome with a reason.
For the next application, use this procedure:
- Before asking for consent, tell the client the purpose, data categories, BIC contact details, who may receive the information, the right not to appear in the database and its consequences, the retention period, and the client’s rights.
- Obtain prior, free and written consent, and keep it on file.
- If you are supervised by the BCEAO and the Commission Bancaire, request the BIC report before granting credit and keep it in the borrower’s file.
- For an empty or thin report, compare the applicant’s declared obligations with your own records and other sources the client consents to. Resolve discrepancies, assess confirmed obligations under your credit policy, and record what the checks established.
- If the report contributed to refusing credit, tell the client and give them a copy.
- Use the report to assess solvency or recover a debt. Do not use report data for marketing or prospecting.
Questions lenders ask about the BIC
How many credit bureaus are there in the WAEMU?
There is one licensed bureau operating across the union, the BIC run by Creditinfo West Africa.
Must I check the BIC before lending?
Yes, if you are supervised by the BCEAO and the Commission Bancaire. You must request the report before granting credit and keep it in the borrower’s file. Other eligible providers may participate voluntarily.
Does an empty BIC report mean the applicant has no debt?
No. It means the BIC returned no information, and the applicant may have borrowing with a provider that does not report. Compare the report with your own records and other consented sources.
What consent do I need before checking the BIC?
Obtain the client’s prior, free and written consent, and keep it on file. Before asking, explain the purpose, data categories, BIC contact details, recipients, the right not to appear in the database and its consequences, the retention period, and the rights of access and correction.
What must I tell an applicant I refuse?
If the BIC report contributed to refusing all or part of the request, tell the client and give them a copy of the report.
How long does information stay with the BIC?
The BIC distributes information no older than five years and archives it for five more.
Who runs the BIC?
Creditinfo West Africa, formerly Creditinfo VoLo, has operated the BIC across the union since 1 February 2016. It was licensed by an order of Côte d'Ivoire dated 12 May 2015.
Can I use BIC data for marketing?
No. Report data may be used to assess solvency when granting credit or to recover a debt, but not for marketing or prospecting.
Which registers does the BIC draw on?
The BIC draws on the trade and movable credit register and land register, the UMOA banking Centrale des Risques, the BCEAO Centrale des Incidents de Paiement, the SFD Centrale des Risques and the BCEAO Centrale des Bilans.
