Dubai Police and Emcredit sign data sharing deal

Dubai: People who issue unfunded cheques may find themselves in a tighter spot when transacting business in Dubai, officials said.

This is because their credit history will now be more accessible and transparent under a data-sharing deal between the Dubai police and Emcredit.

The agreement was signed on Monday by Maj Gen Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police, and Ali Ebrahim, Managing Director of Emcredit.

Under the deal, the police will provide Emcredit with names of people who were involved in financial fraud, have bounced-cheque cases in court or have been subject of an investigation related to a financial crime.

In a news conference that followed the signing, Al Mazeina said: “With the increasing number of bounced cheque cases, Dubai police found that the availability of such financial detective system is one of the best ways to protect the UAE market.”

Police reported Dh1 billion worth of bounced cheques in 2007, in 9,032 cheque-related complaints or cases they received.

Moreover, a study done by Decision Maker Support Centre on the prisoners in Dubai Central Jail revealed that 19 per cent of the prisoners’ cases were related to bounced cheques.

“We are in a county which completely relies on trade and business. Cheques are a key part of financial transactions,” Al Mazeina said.

The credit rating agency keeps tabs of credit history of people in a database made available to its subscribers, mostly financial institutions.

Under the deal, lenders can check an applicant’s credit history, helping them not only to calculate risks of lending to those with bad record, but also detect fraud and spurious applications.

The verification process can be done in seconds.
“This system will not only curb financial fraud but it will also save police time as some of these cases take years to be solved. The main advantage is it will contribute to the growth and development of the financial sector in the UAE,” Al Mazeina said.

Emcredit’s Ebrahim said financial fraud is global phenomenon that can be curbed with increased transparency.

“Adopting industry best practices, creating regulatory processes and systems and developing state-of-the-art tools and technology can help tackle the issues,” he said.

In 2007, Dubai police worked with Emcredit to create Embounce, a credit reporting tool that provides up-to-date records on defaulted cheques reported to Dubai police, but the system was not as well developed as it is now.

“In 2008, Emcredit received 23,000 reports to support their business-lending decisions from nine subscribers to the Embounce service. Our agreement sets the ground for future cooperation that will enable Emcredit to develop enhanced decision-support and fraud detection tools,” Ebrahim said.