Working group on a central credit register in Norway

Members of the euro area are obliged to establish central credit registers in accordance with the rules laid down in Regulation (EU) 2016/867 of the European Central Bank (ECB) on the collection of granular credit and credit risk data, and to participate in a common granular analytical credit database (called “AnaCredit”), shared between the member states. Other EU member states may establish such registers and participate in the common database on a voluntary basis. The purpose of the registers is primarily to strengthen the basis for monetary policy analysis and monetary policy operations, risk management, financial stability surveillance, macroprudential policy, and research. The registers shall be established in stages, and initially encompass corporate loans equal to or larger than 25 000 euro.

Following a recommendation from Norges Bank, the Ministry of Finance has appointed a working group to assess whether a central credit register meeting the ECB minimum requirements should be established in Norway, and whether any such register should encompass other lending in addition to corporate loans equal to or larger than 25 000 euro. The working group shall also consider whether a register can be based on or replace existing reporting, if there should be exchange of data with the common ECB database and national registers in the Nordic region, and if other relevant authorities and lenders (reporting agents) should have access to the data. The working group shall gather input from other relevant authorities and representatives of financial institutions and their customers.

The working group’s mandate is available here (in Norwegian only)