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Uganda: Press Release: Excitement at Banks in Kampala as Credit Bureau Becomes a Reality!
Tuesday, 05 August 2008
Excitement at Banks in Kampala as Credit Bureau Becomes a Reality!
FCS (Biometric Identification) goes into pilot at six branches in Kampala!

The biometric, or identity system, that will be used in the formal financial sector to identify borrowers on the credit bureau is currently in pilot at six branches in Uganda. The FCS number will link borrowers according to their fingerprints and assist in reducing multiplicity of borrowing, and reduce credit risk for lenders.

CompuScan is working together with Barclays, Centenary, Pride Micro Finance, Standard Chartered and UML (Equity Bank) to pilot the biometric customer identification system ahead of the planned national roll out in September 2008. The pilot that is running at one nominated branch per institution (two at Barclays) will continue for at least one month ensuring that operational areas are considered, branch impacts are analysed and properly thought through and most importantly confirmations of hardware compatibility are addressed.

The system more commonly referred to as the Financial Card system (FCS) requires that each borrower has their fingerprints and photograph information taken at the time of loan application. In the case of a commercial entity a borrower (being the company) will get a number and each "signatory" that is authorized to act on behalf of the company will be issued with their own card, in the company capacity. These individuals will also have their own individual cards. CompuScan are responsible for generating a unique identification number that is associated with each set of finger prints, or legal entity details as the case may be. The number and the print image will then be stored on a smart chip embedded in a smart card and returned to the borrower.

Some of the early findings from the initial days of the pilot thus far is that the tolerance in the software that has been built in for resilient matching (determined by CompuScan) is already a welcome feature. This allows us to do extra fine matching to cater for hardened fingerprint images. Software compatibility will be a key determinant of the roll out. The system has been developed using the latest supported Windows software (minimum Windows XP). Where a branch PC does not have at least XP installed no FCS system will be able to be installed and the branch will initially be left off the implementation phase until it can be upgraded to the correct software. Two further considerations that have been highlighted in the pilot that are seldom discussed because they are considered "socially avoided conversation topics" relate to people with missing digits (fingers) or people with no hands at all. This is a reality that we and banks will be regularly faced with after implementing this biometric solution.

CompuScan has for some time anticipated the likelihood of this situation. In the absence of printable images the process of identity creation may still continue but only with several further security levels of authorization. Although additional security passwords will be required to prove the accuracy of these borrowers, people that do suffer in this way will still be afforded the dignity of being able to obtain their own FCS Cards and be identified on the credit bureau.  
For more information, please contact CompuScan at Tel: +256 (0)41 434 7563 or e-mail us at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Data Submission Efforts by Banks is Starting to Pay Off
CompuScan has already collected in excess of 600,000 individual loan records that will be used to populate the files of the credit bureau.

Data collection efforts are paying off, says Head of Data, Albert Leibbrandt. "It has been somewhat of a long road since the beginning of the year, but we are seeing a bright light at the end of the tunnel as lenders are focusing on data supply". According to Leibbrandt, CompuScan has already collected in excess of 600,000 individual loan records that will be used to populate the files of the credit bureau.

These records reflect a significant amount of positive repayments, confirming what we already know, that in any market most borrowers repay their debt well. All data must be provided to CompuScan, but it can only be dispalyed once consent is obtained for positive data submission to the bureau. According to Leibbrandt, where borrowers who do not rush to give their consent it will be most unfortunate for them.

By not allowing CompuScan to share positive information, a borrower damages their own credibility, or at least prevents others from seeing how well they pay and the entire aspect of reputational collateral can be forfeited.

For more information, please contact CompuScan at Tel: +256 (0)41 434 7563 or e-mail us at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   
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