Compuscan is a South African
credit bureau
A credit bureau is a data collection agency that gathers account information from various creditors and provides that information to a consumer reporting agency in the United States, a credit reference agency in the United Kingdom, a credit repor ...
that provides consumer and commercial credit information within South Africa and other
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n nations.
Founded in 1994 and headquartered in
Stellenbosch, South Africa, Compuscan is a subsidiary of South African-based Compuscan Information Technologies. The company, which was originally focused on providing credit history reporting for microcredit transactions, is among South Africa's leading credit bureaus and is a member of the nation's Credit Bureau Association. The company also provides microcredit reporting services in the neighboring republics of
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...
and
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...
.
In 2006, Compuscan was selected by the
Bank of Uganda
The Bank of Uganda ( sw, Benki Kuu ya Uganda) is the central bank of Uganda. Established in 1966, by Act of Parliament, the bank is wholly owned by the government but is not a government department.
History
In 1979 and again in 1987, the Bank ...
to build the first-ever Ugandan Credit Reference Bureau. This system, which was formally introduced in 2008, required
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...
n financial institutions to issue
smart cards
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...
to their borrowers as part of a borrower identification program.
Compuscan South Africa
In South Africa, Compuscan is a registered credit bureau in terms of the National Credit Act (NCA). As per the NCA, all credit bureaus in South Africa are to supply South African citizens with one free credit report per year.
South African National Credit Act
The company also markets credit bureau services to businesses in the credit and financial industries; as well as training services, marketing services, analytics consultancy and loyalty and rewards offerings to a various other industries.
References
Financial services companies established in 1994
Credit rating agencies
Financial services companies of South Africa
Companies based in Stellenbosch
{{finance-stub
External links
– German institution for credit cards for private individuals and corporations according to the international standard.