Debtors Africa, in partnership with Proshare, have launched an independent searchable database of recalcitrant and delinquent debtors in Africa.

They also launched Debtors Report.

Debtors Report is a comprehensive analysis of the debt/non-performing loans situation in Nigerian banking industry.

Mr Bayo Awoyemi, Team Lead, Debtors Africa, said in a statement on Sunday in Lagos that the Debtors Africa Website is a searchable database of delinquent borrowers which enables speedy assessment of the character of a prospective customer.

Awoyemi said investors could use the database as a starting node for assessing the quality of the management of a business they intend to either partner or invest in.

“The searchable database is designed to allow contributors such as banks, loan FinTech and credit companies, cooperatives, tax authorities, private businesses, government agencies, among others, list their delinquent debtors and their indebtedness on the platform as a contributor to the platform.

“With this listings, a moral and business burden is placed on delinquent borrowers as prospective lenders would use the library to fact-check the borrowing history of a loan applicant.

“And use the history to set up a character rating index that would guide credit appraisal memorandums (CAMs) and inform acceptance or decline of credit requests.

“Over the years, the names of delinquent debtors have been published on various media platforms with no central portal to harness the information published or achieve the objective creditors’ desire, which is repayment and resolution.

“With Debtors Africa, the new model, provides a central hub to access this information and goes beyond naming and so-called “shaming”

“It is to informing prospective creditors and other institutions that require character validation, while name removal from the database is subject to the review and removal by the contributor after debt resolution is attained,” he said.

Speaking on debtors report, Teslim Shitta-bey, Managing Editor, Proshare, said the report makes a case for a new approach to the lending cycle.

Shitta-bey said, “this is to ensure that integrity, professionalism and evidence-based best lending practices were strictly followed to guarantee the sustainability of the financial system and the prosperity of the larger economy.”

He said the report, in partnership with Proshare, represents a culmination of a detailed review of the credit experiences of local Nigerian banks in the last two decades.

“It reveals the challenges of a local lending cycle that had seen lenders become victims of the tyranny of bad and delinquent debtors,” Shitta-bey said.

He said the key highlights of the report include: the industry and its debt position, definition of a delinquent debtor, case study of approaches adopted in recovering debt and provisions of the law as regards credit collection and recovery in Nigeria, among others.