Bank of the Republic of Haiti

CIRCULAR

No. 105-1

TO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Pursuant to Articles 87 and 179 of the Law of May 14, 2012, on banks and other financial institutions, this Circular determines the conditions for transmitting information on credits granted to clients of financial institutions to the Credit Information Bureau (BIC) established by the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH).

1.- Financial institutions designated by the BRH are required to transmit to the BIC, in electronic format, all information concerning credits granted to their clients.

This information concerns all loans, cash advances, acceptances, or any other claims (on-balance sheet and off-balance sheet) with or without collateral that constitute the credit portfolio.

2.- Financial institutions are required to transmit monthly all information affecting the credit portfolio, no later than the tenth (10) of each month for the previous month.

3.- The information required under this Circular must be transmitted by all financial institutions regardless of their size or activities, according to the specifications and format attached to this Circular. The mandatory information listed in Annex 2 must be collected for any new credit.

4.- Financial institutions must additionally:
a) correct any information that proves to be erroneous concerning a natural or legal person within five (5) business days from the date of receipt of the request for correction; b) use the data and information systems of the BIC with the diligence of a good father of a family and in accordance with international best practices; c) create at their own expense the conditions conducive to the collection, processing, and submission of information; d) keep up-to-date the information on credits concerning natural or legal persons held by them; e) secure the information they collect and submit to the BIC.

5.- All financial institutions are required to submit real, accurate, up-to-date, and complete information.

In the event that they provide information that proves to be false, inaccurate, or outdated, the BRH may take sanctions against them in accordance with current laws and regulations.

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Any partial transmission of information by a financial institution, i.e., a partial transmission of its credit portfolio, will be considered a failure to transmit and penalized in accordance with the provisions of this Circular.

6.- As of July 3, 2017, all financial institutions are required to consult and keep a copy of the credit report for any client for the purpose of risk assessment during:
a) the granting, renewal, monitoring, and extension of credit; b) the modification of the terms of credit agreements; c) the allocation of payment means.

Information appearing in credit reports cannot be used for commercial prospecting or marketing purposes.

The credit report has a validity period of one (1) month from the date it was generated.

7.- In the event of non-compliance with the provisions of this Circular, the financial institutions covered by this Circular are subject to the following penalties:

7.1. Late Transmission

Failure to provide all requested information within the deadline established in point 2 of this Circular subjects the financial institution to a fine of fifty thousand gourdes (HTG 50,000) per day of infraction until the 15th of the month.

Beyond this date, the financial institution is subject to a fine of seventy-five thousand gourdes (HTG 75,000) per day of infraction until the complete and corrected information, if applicable, is made available to the BIC.

7.2. Late Correction

Failure to correct information requested by the BIC within the established deadlines subjects the financial institution to a fine of twenty-five thousand gourdes (HTG 25,000) per day of infraction from the date on which the infraction was notified.

7.3. Absence of Credit Reports

If the BRH notes, during an inspection, the absence of a credit report in a client's file, the financial institution is subject to a fine of one hundred thousand gourdes (HTG 100,000) for each absence noted.

7.4. Others

For any other infraction noted, the BRH will demand the immediate cessation of the incriminated practice, take administrative sanctions including a letter of reprimand against the

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faulty institution and may apply a fine of one hundred thousand gourdes (HTG 100,000.00) for each fact noted.

Any fine will be deducted from the balance of one of the accounts of the faulty institution at the BRH. On the other hand, the payment of any fine by a financial institution not holding an account at the BRH will be made by a cashier's check payable to the Bank of the Republic of Haiti, no later than three (3) business days after receipt of the notice requiring payment. In case of non-payment within the deadlines, penalties of two thousand five hundred gourdes (HTG 2,500) will be applied per day of delay.

8.- This Circular repeals Circular 105 dated November 28, 2013, and enters into force on May 2, 2017.

Port-au-Prince, April 3, 2017.

Jean Baden Dubois
Governor

List of Annexes:

• Annex 1 - Specifications for File Transfer
• Annex 2 - Specifications for Data Collection Files
• Annex 3 - Reference Data

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ANNEX 1

(1 of 4)

SPECIFICATIONS FOR FILE TRANSFER

INTRODUCTION

For file transfer, financial institutions must take into account these specifications which constitute the main technical details necessary to establish a connection to the file server using the secure transfer protocol SFTP/SSH¹ for the transmission of files.

The operating system installed on the server offers a high level of security.

SFTP CONNECTIVITY

The IP address of the SFTP/SSH server must be configured on the client workstation of the institution as the destination address to transfer files. Port 21 will be used for file transfer according to the standard defined by IANA². It is important to emphasize that any financial institution must previously have a connection (VPN³, WIMAX⁴, Fiber optic, VSAT⁵) with the BRH and that the routing and access rules to the server are well defined, configured, tested, and certified by the BRH.

This server can receive multiple simultaneous connections from different institutions and multiple users.

All files deposited in the directories must have unique names that follow the nomenclature defined by the BRH (see document on specifications for data collection files).

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¹ Secure File Transfer Protocol / Secure Shell ² Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ³ Virtual Private Network ⁴ Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access ⁵ Very Small Aperture Terminal

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ANNEX 1

(2 of 4)

TRANSMISSION PROCESS

Any financial institution must ensure that the connection is well established before starting any transmission. Once the connection is established, the file transfer software, client part (SSH Secure File Transfer, WinSCP, Filezilla, etc.), must be launched.

To connect to the BRH server, the financial institution must fill in the fields username, password, server IP address, and port number.

Successful authentication places the financial institution in the directory intended for it.

Any financial institution must place itself in the corresponding directory to transmit files. Any access is recorded in a log register.

DIRECTORIES

The BRH will use the same nomenclature as that of the Haitian Interbank Payment System (SPIH) for the names of the directories of each financial institution. Several sub-directories are created inside each root directory (the highest level). The name of each sub-directory (the next level) reflects the intended use. No financial institution will be authorized to consult the content or access the directory of another institution.

The sub-directories will be defined as needed.

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ANNEX 1

(3 of 4)

LIST OF PREFIXES

Prefix	Institution
SOGB	SOGEBANK
SOGL	SOGEBEL
UNBK	UNIBANK
NOSC	SCOTIABANK
BNCA	BANQUE NATIONALE DE CRÉDIT
BPHA	BANQUE POPULAIRE HAITIENNE
BUHA	BANQUE DE L'UNION HAITIENNE
BRHA	BANQUE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE D'HAITI
CAPB	CAPITAL BANK
CITI	CITIBANK
SOCC	SOCOLAVIM
CASC	CAPOSOV
COPC	COOPECpra
KPEC	KPEGM
KOTC	KOTELAM
COSC	COSODEV
CPSC	CPSA
KOPC	KOPLES
CAPC	CAPAJ
CPFC	CPF
CACC	CAPOSAC
CAUC	CAPUC
CPRC	CPRCM
KPTC	KPTAT

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ANNEX 1

(4 of 4)

LIST OF PREFIXES

Prefix	Institution
KEPC	KEPOMEK
COOC	COOPECLAS
FEDC	FEDERATION LE LEVIER
CPEC	CPE
CECC	CECACHE
CAOC	CAPOSAJ
CAPO	CAPOR
COTC	COTEM
KPKC	KPK
CODC	CODECREM
SOCC	SOCEM
CPBC	CPBS

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ANNEX 2

SPECIFICATIONS FOR DATA COLLECTION FILES

1. Company/Manager/Shareholder/Credit

File Name 1: ent_resp_act_credit_aaaammjj.csv

4 segments per record:

• Company: mandatory segment
• Manager: mandatory segment (except for credit cards)
• Shareholder: optional segment
• Credit: mandatory segment

Ref.	Field	Data Type	Size	Mandatory	Description
Segment: COMPANY
1.	Company Name	Char	2-75	√	The denomination or trade name of the company.
2.	Patent Number	Char	5-20	√	The Number appearing on the patent certificate issued by the General Directorate of Taxes after payment of the tax.
3.	Company Tax Identification Number (NIF)	Char	10	Except where Legal Form [5] = 1000	The number of the tax ID issued by the General Directorate of Taxes to a company exercising any activity on the territory of Haiti.
4.	Sector of Activity	Code, Ref. Table 1		√	The code of the sector of activity in which a company is classified based on its activities. See Table 1
5.	Legal Form	Code, Ref. Table 4		√	The code allowing to categorize a company. See Table 4