The Leasing Association of Pakistan (LAP) has set up a National Leasing Register (NLR) to maintain record of the models and serial numbers of all assets leased by its members to avoid duplication.
According to the release, a presentation was made by LAP to Dr Tariq Hasan, chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Etrat H. Rizvi, commissioner and other senior executives recently regarding two services being set up by the association to safeguard the leasing sector against any misuse of its facilities.
The presentation was made by Basheer A. Chowdry, chairman LAP and Muhammad Khalid Ali, vice-chairman of the association.
The LAP has decided to set up a NLR in order to maintain record of the makes, models and serial numbers of all assets leased by its members to their clients.
While considering any fresh proposal, the member companies would carry out a search with NLR in order to confirm that the respective asset was not previously leased.
This would ensure safeguarding the leasing sector from any multiple leasing of the same asset by any unscrupulous client. The LAP is also going to maintain a complete data of all the defaulters of lease rentals below Rs 500,000.
Currently, the CIB facilities maintained by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cover all defaulters of Rs 500,000 and above. Due to the significant shift of the leasing sector towards small to medium sector over the last two years, it has become necessary to tabulate the details of the defaulters, which are not covered currently by CIB.
The LAP has, therefore, decided to fill the gap and maintain the relevant data, which would be accessed by its members to identify any defaulters approaching them for fresh leases.
In view of the volumes and technicalities involved in providing both the services, the LAP has decided to outsource the functions to VIS Credit Information Services.
The company is owned by various banks and financial institutions and is staffed with experienced professionals, besides being equipped with all necessary data search and retrieval systems.
For quite sometimes, they have been providing credit search and information services on individuals and business entities.
"Outsourcing of services to a professionally-run Credit Data Bureau", Basheer said, would ensure complete confidentiality of the data and efficient availability of accurate information to the users.
According to him, both the services were urgently required to protect the leasing sector in the context of increasing volumes of business and expansion of the facilities to hitherto unorganised sectors.
He is of the view that, after the system starts operating successfully, approaches will be made to the Bankers Association and SBP to include commercial banks and DFIs undertaking leasing businesses in the data pool as well.
This, he says, would enlarge the scope and effectiveness of protection for the leasing industry as a whole.-PR