Saudi Credit Bureau (Simah) and the Bahrain Credit Reference Bureau (Benefit) have signed an agreement to share credit information.

The move could help promote the exchange of information between the two countries’ banks and facilitate cross-border lending.

“The exchange of credit information between the two countries aims to address and reduce credit risks and provide new tools that will enable financiers, and all related stakeholders, to extrapolate financial behaviours and make sound financial decisions,” said Suwaid Al-Zahrani, CEO of Simah.

Simah was established in 2002 by ten banks then operating in Saudi Arabia. It acts as a data aggregator, pooling credit information collected by banks and sharing it an effort to reduce risk and promote investor confidence. This enables credit providers to form a clearer image of prospective borrowers’ creditworthiness.

RELATED: Click here to compare KSA’s best credit cards!