s 69 Duty to maintain confidentiality of borrower information
69.—(1) A licensee and any of the licensee’s officers or employees must not request from the designated credit bureau any borrower information (including a credit report relating to a person) of the licensee or any other licensee, except for the purposes of section 66(5)(b) or 66A(4).[7/2018] [Act 38 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024] (2) A licensee and any of the licensee’s officers or employees must not use any borrower information (including any such information in a credit report) of the licensee or any other licensee received from the designated credit bureau, except where —(a) the borrower information is strictly necessary to assess the creditworthiness of an applicant for a loan from the licensee; or (b) the borrower information is to be used by the licensee for determining the maximum amount that the licensee may lend to an applicant for a loan from the licensee.[7/2018] (3) A licensee and any of the licensee’s officers or employees must not disclose to any other person any borrower information of the licensee or any other licensee (including any such information in a credit report) except —(a) to the designated credit bureau, to the extent that the borrower information is required to be submitted under section 66, 66A or 68;[Act 38 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024] (b) to the person to which the borrower information relates; (c) to the Registrar or any officer duly authorised by the Registrar, to the extent that the borrower information is required to be furnished under section 43; (d) to the Registrar, to the extent that the borrower information is required to be submitted under section 72; or (e) to the licensee, where the disclosure of borrower information of the licensee is by any of the licensee’s officers or employees.[7/2018] (3A) Despite subsection (3), a licensee may disclose —(a) any borrower information of the licensee (including any such information in a credit report) —(i) to an assistant of the licensee to enable the assistant to collect any debt on behalf of the licensee; (ii) to a contractor or agent engaged by the licensee to enable the contractor or agent to maintain or support the licensee’s information system; or (iii) to any public agency to enable any of the licensee’s officers or employees to inspect or obtain any public record relating to — (A) an applicant for a loan from the licensee; or (B) a borrower to whom a loan has been granted by the licensee; or (b) any specified borrower information of the licensee — (i) to any prescribed credit bureau for the purpose of obtaining any report from that prescribed credit bureau to assess the creditworthiness of any applicant for a loan or any borrower to whom a loan has been granted by the licensee; or (ii) to any other person that may be prescribed for any purposes related to the welfare and protection of applicants for loans, borrowers and sureties.[Act 38 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024] (4) Any person who contravenes subsection (1), (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.[7/2018] (5) In this section, unless the context otherwise requires —(a) where borrower information of a licensee may be disclosed under subsection (3) to any person that is a body corporate, the borrower information may be disclosed to such officers of the body corporate as may be necessary for the purpose for which the disclosure is authorised under that subsection; and (b) the obligation of any officer or employee of the licensee not to disclose any borrower information of any licensee mentioned in subsection (3) continues after the termination or cessation of his or her appointment, employment, engagement or other capacity or office in which he or she has been provided the borrower information.[30Q [7/2018] (6) In this section —“information system” means computer servers and network equipment operated, maintained or used by a licensee for the purposes of the licensee’s business of moneylending, and any other electronic device that contains borrower information of the licensee; “prescribed credit bureau” means —(a) a credit bureau that is for the time being licensed under the Credit Bureau Act 2016; or (b) an organisation which provides information to a person to assess the creditworthiness of an individual in relation to one or more transactions between the person and the individual, where such information is —(i) provided for gain or profit; or (ii) provided on a routine, non‑profit basis as an ancillary part of a business carried on for gain or profit, that may be prescribed as such; “specified borrower information” means one or more types or classes of borrower information that the Registrar may, by written notice to one or more licensees, specify for the purposes of this Part.[Act 38 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]