XDS Data vindicates Bawumia; 'exposes' IMANI's Bright Simmons and others

XDS Data, Ghana’s Leading Credit Bureau has indicated that it has not produced any credit score for the people of Ghana, vindicating the claim made by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia recently.

In a statement issued on December 5, 2023, the organization said they can produce credit scores for the people of Ghana but are currently not producing them because of the low penetration of Ghana cards.

The statement indicated that currently, different forms of identification are used to access facilities, hence making it difficult for the bureau to be 100% sure of capturing a credit subject’s total exposure.

The organization in its statement said it is currently researching and will be able to produce credit score for the people of Ghana when the Ghana Card penetration reaches 90th percentile.

It would be remembered that the Vice President speaking at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology(KNUST) said “I am also happy to note, Your Majesty, that Ghana early next year will be introducing a credit scoring system for individuals. In that credit scoring system, every individual will have a credit score. Right now, our credit scoring system does not exist. So, everybody is seen as risky and the interest rates are high. But we are going to move into individualised credit scoring. So, if you don’t pay your loan you will have low credit score…the Ghana Card will also become the anchor for a credit system in Ghana.”

His position was countered by IMANI Africa’s Bright Simmons who argued that individuals are tracked by existing credit referencing bureaus so Bawumia cannot say that all Ghanaians are seen as risky in the same way and that this will only change from early next year when Bawumia introduces his Ghana Card–based system.

It is a fact that the credit referencing system shows that loan defaults are already tracked individually in Ghana so the statement that everyone is seen as risky flies in the face of the facts. Before a loan is given out by a financial institution in Ghana the law (LI 2394) requires the Bank or lender to check the individual loan applicant’s credit file at the credit reference bureau. If the system wasn’t individualised this wouldn’t be possible.

But the response of the organization itself puts to rest the debate over who is right as it sets the records straight.