Bid to stop drain of credit card providers gets go-ahead

Wednesday 04 October 2023

Credit reference agencies will soon be able to access islanders' data through a central register, after many were left frustrated after having their applications for new cards refused.

States Members unanimously voted yesterday to approve Chief Minister Kristina Moore’s proposition – which was brought forward by Deputy Elaine Millar in her absence – to amend the Register of Names and Addresses Law 2012.

The law change will permit the minister to supply certain information about Jersey residents to credit reference agencies.

Concerns were previously raised that credit-card companies were pulling out of Jersey as they could not check customers' details, with Islanders being refused new cards and having their accounts closed, despite having good credit history.

The States Assembly has voted to APPROVE the Chief Minister @Moore4Jersey's proposition, with 44 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions. https://t.co/JlUEfYgWa4

— States Assembly - Jersey's elected parliament (@StatesAssembly) October 3, 2023

By early 2024, the government will aim to supply the agencies with access to data from the People Directory, a central repository that holds address and contact details of the general public. This will help agencies provide affordability checks and CDD (KYC) checks in accordance with money-laundering obligations and will help Islanders obtain loans, credit cards and other sources of credit.

Jersey currently has different sources of data, which has created complications and increased costs for those companies offering the same services to the Jersey market.

Pictured: Deputy Elaine Millar, Assistant Chief Minister with responsibility for financial services.

Deputy Millar previously said she hoped that this should "remove some of the known hurdles to banks and card service providers offering products such as credit cards". "We hope that banks, loan companies and credit-card providers will recognise this and provide a full range of services for Islanders," she said.