KUALA LUMPUR (March 16): A High Court ruling against a unit of CTOS Digital Bhd, in favour of a businesswoman suing it for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, cast the spotlight on the credit reporting agency’s business model.

Public opinion on the company’s business model has been rife on and off social media, with people divided over many issues - ranging from whether CTOS should be allowed to generate individual credit scores to whether the group should take responsibility for the accuracy of the data generated.

CTOS announced on March 11 that the High Court decided in favour of Suriati Mohd Yusuf, in a negligence and breach of fiduciary duty as well as for defamation suit she brought against CTOS’ wholly-owned CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd.

It was not the first defamation case CTOS had lost, but the Suriati case was the first where the judge touched on whether CTOS had legal grounds to formulate credit scores under the Credit Reporting Agencies Act 2010.

CTOS says it is “business as usual”, and that it has a strong case for appeal. But should it fail, what are the broader implications, and why does it matter?

What are some of the legal cases that CTOS has won and lost in the past? What do consumer groups say regulators should do?

Read about this and more in the March 18, 2024 issue of The Edge Malaysia weekly. Pick up a copy at news stands. 

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/node/704813