CIB Circular Letter No. 03: Regarding Sector-Specific Exemption from Service Charges/Fees for CIB Reports

Bangladesh Bank (Central Bank of Bangladesh) Head Office Motijheel, Dhaka-1000 Bangladesh

Ref. No. CIB/CL/03 Credit Information Bureau CIB Circular Letter No. 03 Date: 10 Ashwin, 1432 Bang 25 September, 2025

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer All Scheduled Banks/Finance Companies operating in Bangladesh

Subject: Regarding sector-specific exemption from service charges/fees applicable for CIB reports prepared from Credit Information Systems (CIS).

Reference is drawn to your attention to CIB Circular Letter No. 02/2011 issued on 04 May 2011, CIB Circular Letter No. 02/2022 issued on 10 April 2022, CIB Circular Letter No. 03/2024 issued on 14 November 2024, and CIB Circular Letter No. 02/2025 issued on 05 May 2025 regarding the subject matter.

2. Instructions were provided regarding the service charges/fees applicable at the rates determined in paragraph 2 of the referenced CIB Circular Letter No. 02/2011. Through CIB Circular Letters No. 02/2022, 03/2024, and 02/2025, exemption facilities from service charges/fees were provided for the preparation and download of CIB reports for loan applicants in certain sectors, and instructions were given to submit hard copies of necessary information/documents along with the loan application forms of each customer to this Bureau for availing such benefits.

3. Now, in order to further simplify the matter of availing exemption facilities from service charges/fees for the preparation and download of CIB reports for loan applicants in the sectors listed in the aforementioned circular letters, it has been decided that instead of submitting hard copies of necessary information/documents as per the previous instructions, the benefit may be availed by following the 'Credit Information System (CIS) User Guide' developed by the Credit Information System (CIS). The following instructions are to be followed in this regard:

a) Hard copies of the necessary documents mentioned in the referenced circular letters for availing exemption benefits in the sectors listed therein for the preparation and download of CIB reports need not be submitted to this Bureau. For availing such benefits, the 'Credit Information System (CIS) User Guide' developed by the Credit Information System (CIS) must be followed. However, until 30 September 2025, hard copies of necessary information/documents must be submitted to this Bureau as before for availing the imposed service charges/fees exemption.

b) Service charges/fees of CIB shall in no way be collected from loan applicants and customers concerned from the Credit Information System (CIS) and the Credit Information System (CIS) User Guide for the purpose of obtaining loans from exempted sectors. The CIB User Guide shall not be used for any purpose other than the CIB report of such loan applicants and customers concerned.

c) For availing exemption benefits for the preparation and download of CIB reports against exempted sectors, the 'Credit Information System User Guide' prepared on a monthly basis from the CIS must be printed, verified, and signed properly, and submitted to this Bureau by the 5th of the following month.

d) Necessary information/documents of exempted sectors must be mandatorily preserved at the respective branches/offices of banks/finance companies so that Bangladesh Bank inspectors and external auditors can verify the correctness of the exemption, in accordance with the instructions of the referenced CIB Circular Letters.

4. Except for the matter of submitting hard copies of necessary information/documents mentioned in CIB Circular Letter No. 02/2022 issued on 10 April 2022, CIB Circular Letter No. 03/2024 issued on 14 November 2024, and CIB Circular Letter No. 02/2025 issued on 05 May 2025, all other instructions shall remain unchanged.

5. This instruction is issued under the power conferred by Section 44(1) of the Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972 (P.O. No. 127 of 1972).

6. This instruction shall come into effect from 1 October 2025.

(Md. Nurul Alam) Director (CIB) Phone: 9530242