The Hindu Business Line : `Googled' just in time

The process of checking a loan applicant's antecedents is not an easy one - despite the technology that helps banks receive a response within minutes of posting their online query to the CIBIL database.

Bank officials dealing with corporate customers point out that they have to check out the background of the directors too when deliberating on a loan proposal. Sometimes a search on a director's name can yield 30-40 pages of similar names - which then require systematic sifting to narrow it down to the particular borrower.

The absence of a single unique identification number such as a social security number that is available in the West poses some difficulties in quick identification.

Often banks have to fall back on a second or third "field", an extra bit of information, such as passport number, telephone number, PAN number or voter ID number or residential address.

Mr Santhanakrishnan says that there has been no case so far, where one or other of these fields have not resulted in a desired match.

Sometimes the existing database is not enough to nab offenders. Banks seem to need a stroke of luck or a fit of inspiration for its officers to spot the black sheep.

One such search on a loan proposal involving a couple of crore was done by SBI and none of the databases had anything negative on the directors of the company. The proposal would have gone through that evening.

However, on a gut instinct, the appraising officers ran a google check on one of the directors, an NRI. They were taken aback when they found that he was a defaulter in Malaysia and that the Interpol was on the lookout for him. The proposal died a swift death and the bank escaped a potential future legal wrangle.

More Stories on : Non-Performing Assets | Credit Market | Economic Offences

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Bar on remote access irks global telecom cos

Service tax on international roaming?

Fertiliser Dept seeks panel nod to float SPV

Radio route to care for the aged

New drug policy in place, but relief to consumers sometime away

33 cos opt for large taxpayer unit scheme in Bangalore

Gujarat Govt plans retail store format for fair price shops

Bajaj Auto Sept sales up 38 pc

Satyam plans foray into joint R&D in auto sector

Paper size & print area reduction

`Female car buyers consider more models before buying'

IPOs lose sheen as market sentiments evoke caution

Energy, metals may hit new peaks in Q4

Defaulters beware! You can be `Cibilled' !

`Googled' just in time