Customers' complaints against credit information companies increasing: RBI

The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said there has been a rise in customer complaints against credit information companies (CICs).

The central bank has also found "some concerns" on the conduct of CICs in its supervisory assessment, an official statement said without specifying the concerns.

The statement, released after a meeting between Deputy Governor Swaminathan J and managing directors and chief executives of CICs earlier in the day, also mentioned the specific areas where CICs need to focus on.

"He (Swaminathan) pointed out that, of late, there is a rise in customer complaints related to credit information and some concerns have emerged during Reserve Bank's supervisory assessment," the statement said.

The CICs need to redress customer complaints timely, strengthen the internal ombudsman framework, streamline the process for handling data correction requests, strengthen cybersecurity and data privacy through a robust information security governance framework, improve data quality and also address concerns arising out of usage of data for consulting and analytics, Swaminathan said at the meeting.

Swaminathan also acknowledged the vital role played by CICs in the financial system, as per the statement.

The meeting was also attended by the executive directors and other senior officials of the Department of Supervision and Department of Regulation, it said.