27 November 2012

Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff today released the first compliance assurance reports submitted to her office by the national credit reporting companies.

Under a new requirement of the Credit Reporting Privacy Code, credit reporters are required to file assurance reports each year with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. The companies must involve an independent expert in the process of preparing their reports.

"The reports were all submitted on time and identify no significant compliance problems," said Ms Shroff. "Each credit reporter shows how the vast amounts of credit information they accumulate on New Zealanders is accurate, secure, lawfully obtained and matched correctly."

"The obligation on credit reporters to submit annual compliance reports is one of several new safeguards I've introduced to the credit reporting system this year. I'm making the reports public as a step towards holding the credit reporters accountable for handling the sensitive financial information of New Zealanders. We will be speaking with the credit reporters about their reports over the coming weeks."

View the reports.

ENDS

For further information contact: Annabel Fordham 021 509 735.

Notes for editors: Clause 9 of the Credit Reporting Privacy Code requires credit reporters to submit an assurance report to the Privacy Commissioner annually. The assurance report must comply with Schedule 6 of the code, which sets out the process to be followed and the areas that must be covered. Amongst other things, the report must provide assurances relating to policies, procedures and controls to ensure compliance with the code and how these are monitored by the credit reporter. The code is available here. The reports must be submitted annually within three months of the end of the financial year. They must have been prepared with the involvement of an independent person, such as a trained auditor or privacy law expert.