Credit Bureau Act 2016 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 6 · Duties of Approved Members of Licensed Credit Bureaus
33. Duty to maintain confidentiality of customer information
Feedback & supportExcept for a purpose mentioned in subsection (2), an approved member of a licensed credit bureau and any of the member’s officers must not —
approved member
“approved member”, in relation to a licensed credit bureau, means a member of the licensed credit bureau that is —(a)deemed to be an approved member of the licensed credit bureau under section 29(1); or(b)approved by the Authority under section 29(6)(a);
request from the licensed credit bureau, any customer information (including a credit report of the member’s customer) of that or any other approved member of the licensed credit bureau; or
use any customer information (including any such information in a credit report) of that or any other approved member of the licensed credit bureau received from the licensed credit bureau.
The purposes in subsection (1) are —
where the customer information is strictly necessary to assess the creditworthiness of a customer of the approved member; or
any other purpose that the Authority may permit, by written notice.
An approved member of a licensed credit bureau, and any of the member’s officers, must not disclose to the licensed credit bureau, any customer information of that or any other approved member of the licensed credit bureau except —
member
“member”, in relation to a licensed credit bureau, means an entity that is obliged under any contract or arrangement with the licensed credit bureau to provide data to the licensed credit bureau, and is entitled under such contract or arrangement to —(a)receive or request data from the licensed credit bureau;(b)use data received from the licensed credit bureau; and(c)disclose data received from the licensed credit bureau;
where the customer information is strictly necessary to create a credit report;
to enable the licensed credit bureau to make a disclosure under section 13(2)(b);
to enable the licensed credit bureau to make a disclosure under section 16; or
for any other purpose that the Authority may permit by written notice and in accordance with such conditions as may be specified in the notice.
An approved member of a licensed credit bureau, and any of the member’s officers, must not disclose to any other person customer information of any other approved member of the licensed credit bureau that the firstmentioned approved member has received from the licensed credit bureau except —
licensed credit bureau
“licensed credit bureau” means a credit bureau that is for the time being licensed;
to the customer to which the information relates;
where the disclosure is by any of the approved member’s officers, such disclosure is to the approved member;
to that licensed credit bureau; or
to any other person if the disclosure is permitted by the Authority by written notice and in accordance with such conditions as may be specified in the notice.
Despite subsections (3) and (4)(c), an approved member of a licensed credit bureau, and the approved member’s officers, must not disclose to the licensed credit bureau, any customer information of that or any other approved member of the licensed credit bureau, if the licensed credit bureau’s licence —
customer information
“customer information”, in relation to a member of a credit bureau, means —(a)any information relating to, or any particulars of —(i)an account of a customer of the member, whether the account is in respect of a loan, investment or any other type of transaction, but excludes any information that is not referable to any named customer or group of named customers; or(ii)an application for a credit facility from the member by a customer of the member; or(b)the member’s deposit information;
has lapsed;
is revoked; or
is suspended.
The Authority may at any time add to, vary or revoke any condition imposed under this section.
Despite subsections (3) and (4)(c), an approved member of a licensed credit bureau and the approved member’s officers must not disclose any of its deposit information to the licensed credit bureau.
deposit information
“deposit information”, in relation to a member of a credit bureau, means any information relating to —(a)any deposit of a customer of the member with the member;(b)funds of a customer of the member under management by the member; or(c)any safe deposit box maintained by, or any safe custody arrangements made by, a customer of the member with the member,but excludes any information that is not referable to any named person or group of named persons;
To avoid doubt, subsections (3), (4), (5) and (7) do not affect the rights of disclosure that the approved member or any of its officers has under any other written law, including the Banking Act 1970.
Any person that contravenes subsection (1), (3), (4), (5), (7) or any condition imposed under subsection (6) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —
in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $125,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both; or
in any other case, to a fine not exceeding $250,000.
In this section, unless the context otherwise requires —
where customer information of an approved member of a licensed credit bureau may be disclosed under subsection (3) or (4) to any person that is a body corporate, the customer information may be disclosed to such officers of the body corporate as may be necessary for the purpose for which the disclosure is authorised under that subsection; and
the obligation of any officer of the approved member not to disclose any customer information of any approved member of the licensed credit bureau mentioned in subsection (3), (4), (5) and (7) continues after the termination or cessation of his or her appointment, employment, engagement or other capacity or office in which he or she has been provided the customer information.
In this section, “officer” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Banking Act 1970.
officer
“officer” has the meaning given by section 4(1) of the Companies Act 1967;
This section applies to corrected data received by the approved member from the licensed credit bureau under section 18(3)(b)(ii) as it applies to customer information of any approved member of the licensed credit bureau received by the approved member from the licensed credit bureau.
data
“data” means —(a)information relating to a person’s creditworthiness, including (to avoid doubt) customer information of a member of a licensed credit bureau; or(b)information relating to a person that is processed by a licensed credit bureau in the course of its credit reporting business,as the case may be;