Enhancing Growth, Trade Development and Smart Decision-making Through OBIC’s Evolving Digital Credit Information and Business Intelligence Platform

Reliable and up-to-date credit information and its responsible sharing is crucial in accelerating intra-OIC trade and investment. By providing businesses with a detailed and accurate picture of the business performance and creditworthiness of OIC entities through the OIC Business Intelligence Center (OBIC) centralized business intelligence digital platform, ICIEC is bridging the current information gap and enhancing data reliability required for supporting informed decision-making.

The 3rd Capacity-Building Programme for Users of OBIC held in Jakarta on 18-20 February 2025 and organized with the IsDB Regional Hub Indonesia, registered a robust attendance and a spate of quality and timely presentations delivered by key industry experts and professionals.

The inaugural OBIC Programme was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in early 2023 followed by a second one in Istanbul, Türkiye, in September 2023. Dr. Khalid Khalafalla, CEO of ICIEC, in his keynote speech on “The Role of Credit Information Sharing and Business Intelligence in Supporting Trade and Investment Decisions,” could not be more to the point.

“In today’s interconnected global economy,” he reminded, “access to accurate and reliable business intelligence is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, especially for the member states of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), where trade and investment flows are rapidly expanding, and accordingly, leveraging credit information has become a cornerstone of sustainable economic development.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to call upon our OIC member states to jointly support the OBIC initiative as an important and robust information-sharing platform that facilitates collecting, analyzing, and disseminating relevant credit information and business data. We strongly believe that the OBIC as a collaborative approach will strengthen intra-OIC trade and attract foreign direct investment, bolstering our economic resilience and sustainability.’’

Dr. Khalid Khalafalla, CEO of ICIEC

ICIEC, he emphasized, recognizes that digitalization and automation for development through trade and investment must be a core ongoing objective for and in partnership between the public and private sectors. “I call upon our OIC Member States to jointly support the OBIC initiative as an important and robust information-sharing platform that facilitates collecting, analyzing, and disseminating relevant credit information and business data. We strongly believe that OBIC as a collaborative approach will strengthen intra-OIC trade and attract foreign direct investment, bolstering our economic resilience and sustainability,” he added.

OBIC is an ICIEC initiative adopted in 2017 by the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the OIC, to provide OIC Member States with a platform for sharing business information, compiling and coordinating data, and offering advisory services and capacity development programmes. OBIC’s four strategic pillars support OIC States in developing and enhancing their credit reporting ecosystems, building a comprehensive OIC-wide business intelligence infrastructure, developing OIC States’ capacity related to credit reporting, and catalyzing a sustainable business model for itself with the aim of allowing its users to access, gather, store, and analyze corporate data to provide valuable information and analysis on various aspects of the business environment.

The Power of Business Intelligence

In the current digital age where information flows freely and instantaneously, stressed Dr. Khalafalla to participants, the power of business intelligence becomes increasingly critical, accompanied by rapid and dynamic technological advancements that offer unprecedented opportunities to extract valuable insights and make informed decisions.

“As a result, all these factors oblige the credit information industry to undergo a significant transformation to catch up with those advancements in business intelligence and digital technologies, as digital transformation enables real-time data analytics, predictive modeling, and automation, improving the accuracy and speed of credit reporting, while the artificial intelligence and big data analytics allow financial institutions to assess creditworthiness with greater precision, reducing risks and unlocking new opportunities for borrowers,” he advised.

As users of the OBIC, he implored participants, “You are expected to play a crucial role in ensuring that this platform is utilized to its maximum potential. Engagement in this capacity-building programme will equip you with the skills and insights needed to leverage credit data for better trade and investment decisions.”

The Opening Session of the event held on 18 February 2025 included Dr. Khalafalla’s above keynote speech, and opening remarks from other key stakeholders including the IsDB Regional Hub Indonesia, IIGF, Indonesia EXIM Bank, and PT Asuransi ASEI, which set the stage for a robust and frank discourse on how to enhance capacity and collaboration in trade and investment risk management across the OIC region through the importance of information and knowledge sharing.

The Way Ahead

The event concluded on 20 February 2025 where Mr. Yerzhan Jalmukhanov delivered the closing remarks on ‘Bridging Opportunities, Strengthening Partnerships.’, where he reaffirmed the importance of partnerships, innovation, and sustainable economic growth, and extended his gratitude to all co-organizers, partners for their unwavering support, and to distinguished speakers, panelists, and participants who contributed to making the event a success.”

Looking ahead, the expanding OBIC fraternity is expectant to seeing the outcomes of the Jakarta Discourse taking shape. The hope is that the OBIC initiative becomes the driving force for advancing credit information sharing among OIC member states through a centralized platform for business intelligence, and a transformative effort towards bridging the current information gaps and enhancing data reliability required for supporting informed decision-making!