INSIDER HEADLINE: Bank Indonesia promises credit info bureaus by 2014 -Kontan 

(Insider Stories) — Bank Indonesia has said that credit information bureaus serving the banking industry will be operational in Indonesia by 2014, Kontan newsportal reports Friday.

State-owned enterprizes and private companies may tender for permission to create LPIP’s, the local acronym for credit bureaus, Sani Eka Duta, assistant director of BI’s credit information, permission and information department, was quoted as saying. Duta said that BI will initially allow 10 bureaus in order to foster competition and provide banks with a choice but that after five years these will be consolidated into five or six bureaus.

There are eight credit bureaus from other countries that have expressed informal interest in setting LPIP’s in Indonesia under local limited liability company law, and will likely focus on providing credit information to foreign enterprises operating in Indonesia, Duta said. He said they comprise bureaus from the U.S., Italy, South Korea and Japan, he said.

He added that BI expects each credit bureau to focus on a specific economic sector.