Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.69.4.02
Responsible Lending de lege lata and de lege ferenda – The Role of the Croatian Credit Bureau
Jan Torjanac
; Law Firm Korper&partneri, Zagreb, Croatia
Siniša Petrović
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The credit bureau is one of the key elements within the creditworthiness assessment process, which has become an indispensable part of today's financial infrastructure on a global scale. In the Republic of Croatia, a company called the Croatian Credit Bureau Ltd. (HROK) runs a system (HROK) for the exchange of information on indebtedness and orderliness in meeting the obligations of a particular person from the Bureau’s databases, for making credit reports regarding the person in question using this information. The paper analyzes the role of HROK and how it can contribute to more responsible lending by discussing its activity in the context of relations between parties involved in the creditworthiness assessment process - the credit institution (user), the consumer (client) and HROK itself. It furthermore compares the activity of HROK and its legal environment with its European and global counterparts, especially within the EU member states, most notably Germany. There are issues of compliance of the legal regulations pertaining to HROK with the acquis communautaire, and the question arises whether there is room for change in terms of a possible extension of its functions and its database, and whether the balance between the free flow of data and consumers' right to data protection is being struck and how. The paper finally proposes models of change in the legal system that would facilitate access to HROK and give the bureau a more proactive role in providing citizens with both legal and financial education on a wider scale.
Keywords
Croatian Credit Bureau; responsible lending; creditworthiness assessment; personal data protection; acquis communautaire
Hrčak ID:
227077
URI
Publication date:
4.10.2019.
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