Signals! The AU wants it’s own credit bureau.
Why? Like likes of S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch have (ironically) low creditability around various African political and economic circles - where these international ratings agencies are accused of bias and hypocrisy in rating African businesses and nations when compared to their ratings standards in the “west”.
Whatever your thoughts on the credit worthiness of Western or African ratings agencies, (tell me in the comments), I am reminded of how dependent we - as individuals, organisations, and nations - are on credit ratings (and not just the financial kind, also the social, popularity, health, and micro credentials kind) for access to goods, services and opportunities.
And therefore, as our identies (and our credit ratings) become digitised and “immutably immortalised” how important it becomes that our credit verifiers are themselves credit worthy - and fair.
If computer says no unfairly - how do you challenge it?
As the AU will find out, alternative rating standards are only as good as they are accepted by the rest of the world - monopoly over personal and national credit ratings is powerful and difficult position to challenge…
Can alternative credit ratings improve your creditability? (Or is this a winner takes all game?)
How do you challenge inaccurate quantative and qualitative credit scores that affect your access to goods, services, and opportunities?
Can digital identity and digitised credit ratings replace (or enhance) trust in a trustless world? (And how does that unravel when we don’t trust the credit rater!)
Read more :
Alternative credit scores : https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/african-union-plans-launch-its-own-credit-ratings-agency-2023-09-12/
GIGO : https://whatthefuturenow.com/2021/12/01/the-truth-machine/
Micro credit for the masses :
Who credit checks the credit bureaus