The impact of the functional characteristics of a credit bureau on the level of indebtedness per capita: Evidence from East European countries

The institution of the credit bureau is one of the most important elements in controlling the indebtedness levels of a population. All credit bureaus have specific functional characteristics which are able to influence the development of indebtedness. This research aims to identify the most important characteristics of a credit bureau, to quantify those characteristics and to identify causal relationships between the characteristics of the credit bureau and trends in indebtedness per capita levels. The paper introduces the Credit Bureau Functional Index which presents a quantified value of the functional characteristics of the Credit Bureau. The paper establishes a correlation between this index and indebtedness per capita and finds the formula governing this relationship to be linear. The paper concludes that indebtedness levels can be targeted through a mix of characteristics of a credit bureau. Research on this theme is absent in academic literature to date.