Sensitivity obligation – public registers

Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) has a statutory role to maintain a public register called the Register of Insolvencies (RoI) which records details of all the bankruptcies, protected trust deeds (PTD), bankruptcy restriction orders, and corporate insolvencies in Scotland. The RoI also records moratorium applications submitted from April 2015. All Debt Arrangement Scheme debt payment programmes (DAS DPPs) are detailed on the DAS Register. Both the RoI and DAS Register are free to search using an individual’s personal details.

The registers are used by creditors who wish to identify a customer who has become insolvent or has made an application for a debt relief product. Creditors should check the registers before lending money to an applicant as part of their credit check process. Money advisers also check the registers when approached for money advice to confirm if their client is already, or has been previously, in a statutory debt product.

Creditors and money advisers need as much information as possible to allow an accurate identification. This will help inform creditors when they are taking lending decisions, or make sure they know when they should no longer pursue debts, and to whom they should submit a claim in a sequestration or trust deed, or record their interest in a DAS DPP.

There may be some exceptional instances where it is appropriate to withhold certain personal details of an individual for their own protection. This must be balanced with the purpose of the registers, maintaining the integrity of the registers to allow individual debtors to be readily identifiable.

This guidance sets out how the Accountant will use this discretion and explains the process the Accountant will follow in reaching decisions on requests for information to be withheld.

It cannot cover every situation. Many different scenarios have been presented to AiB with requests to withhold an individual’s details. Therefore, the principles contained within this guidance are those which will be applied to any circumstances presented, allowing AiB to consider each case independently and base the decision on the information received.