The 2018 annual Conference of ALACRED took place on Curaçao on 25 and 26 January. ALACRED (Asociación Latinoamericana de Burós de Crédito) is the association of credit agencies for Latin America and the Caribbean. The conference was hosted and organized by Caribbean Credit Bureau. Speakers at the conference came from different continents, and included Mr. Peter van den Bosch, CEO Bureau Kredietregistratie (BKR) in the Netherlands, Mr. Bob Trojan from New Jersey, Mauricio Gamboa Rullán from Mexico, chairman of ALACRED. Minister I.S. Martina, Mr. Leo Rigaud, chairman of the Curaçao Bankers Association, Mr. B. de Jong of Profound Projects and Niko Kluyver spoke from home. Niko Kluyver, director of Caribbean Credit Bureau in the Dutch Caribbean and board member of ALACRED, said he is very satisfied with the attendance of many credit bureau for this event and that very up-to-date topics, such as the various privacy laws on different continents, the upcoming GDPR legislation in the EU, and the data protection shield in the USA. Data security and new technologies including the potential roles of block chain applications were discussed. The importance of access to finance for individuals and smaller entrepreneurs to improve the economy and the availability of reliable credit information to protect against over-crediting of individuals and mitigating defaults on loans underline the important role of credit bureaus.
