Metropol Credit Reference Bureau is of one the CRBs operating in the Ugandan market. Metropol CRB was granted a license by the Bank of Uganda in 2015 and has been in operation since then. Metropol CRB is a subsidiary of Metropol Corporation Limited, a Business Information and Risk Management Company based in Nairobi, Kenya, and has been in operation for the last 25 years.

As part of its innovative solutions for the Ugandan market, Metropol has come up with a credit scoring solution dubbed the ‘Metro Score’, generated based on the credit information available on the borrower’s profile with the Bureau and considers a number of relevant parameters.

The Metro Score predicts the probability of default for a borrower over a 5-year period and can be used in credit assessment as well as other instances where determining the risk associated with the borrower is pertinent in credit decision-making. The Metro Score is available to all Participating Institutions with user rights to the Metropol Core CRB system.

The Metro Score ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 900 for individuals and 20-90 for non-individuals as illustrated in the table below:

Lenders and borrowers alike have a lot to benefit from using the Metro Score including but not limited to the following;

• Prediction of the borrower’s payment behavior. The Metro score, through its Payment Performance Index (PPI), enables the lender to have a feel of how the borrower is likely to repay the loan whether in the agreed installment periods or the right installment payments.
• Faster turn-around time for credit assessments. Instead of going through voluminous files to determine the creditworthiness of the borrower, the Metro Score summarizes all that for the lender, and one is able to make a Lend or No Lend decision faster, thus saving time and money for both parties. Related to this, the lender is able to prioritize loan applicants by serving those with a good Metro Score first and the others that may need further assessment are handled later.
• Objective Credit Assessment. The Metro Score eliminates subjectivity inherent in credit assessment processes and the lender does not have to labour much to explain or justify why the loan has been denied or extended. This will in effect lead to a significant reduction in bad debts.
• Credit risk policy enhancement. The Metro Score can be used as a benchmark to determine the credit risk appetite by lenders and including this in their credit policies.
• Risk-based pricing. The Metro Score facilitates lenders to determine interest rates based on one’s score. Therefore, loan applicants with good Metro scores should enjoy discounted interest rates and vice versa. This also promotes behavior change among borrowers when they realize that their Metro Score has a bearing on the level of interest they will be charged for their desired credit facilities.
• On the side of borrowers, a good Metro Score will facilitate easy access to credit facilities as many lenders would want to associate with someone who repays their credit facilities as per agreed terms over a sustained period of time.

Therefore, we implore all Participating Institutions to take advantage of the Metro Score to simplify their credit assessment processes and enhance efficiency and effectiveness thereby reducing losses that may arise from such process inefficiencies.

Metropol continues to innovate and position itself as a valuable partner in the Ugandan credit market space and will not relent in its quest to make its clients reach new heights.