A plan to set up a joint credit information exchange programme that will minimise risks on the GCC financial system has been supported by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, a report said.

A number of firms and families have been heavily involved in huge debt with some GCC banks and financing agencies, said sources cited by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, according to a report in Arab News.

The proposed credit information exchange programme could be established with two or three countries and expanded to cover the remaining GCC countries in few years, the report quoted the sources.

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has highlighted that the application of the credit information exchange program will avert possible financial risks emerging from the absence of cooperation related to credit information.

The CBB has studied the mechanism whereby the program could be achieved between the GCC countries with special emphasis on legal and technical obstacles which may face the joint project, the sources said.

The credit information centers in the GCC countries are awaiting the decision of the concerned central banks, the sources said.

The project would avoid banking and funding agencies risks of providing services to financially-troubled individuals or firms, Fahad Al-Mishari, an economic and financial expert was quoted in the report.