The Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) officially announced on April 23, 2026, via its website, the withdrawal of the license granted to Mitigan Credit and Insurance Bureau (Mitigan CIB).
This regulatory decision highlights a persistent gap between ambitions for financial innovation and operational execution capacity in Tunisia.
The BCT Governor had already decided on March 17, 2026, to revoke Mitigan CIB’s authorization to operate as a credit information bureau.
The public announcement came more than a month later, after the expiry of the 30-day legal appeal period provided under Decree-Law No. 2022-2 governing credit information activities.
The withdrawal was based on a purely procedural ground: the company failed to begin operations within one year of being granted its license, which had been issued on March 16, 2025.
Under the legal framework, this constitutes an automatic withdrawal of approval. Article 30 of the decree-law stipulates that a license is revoked by right if a company does not start activity within the required timeframe.
The BCT therefore applied the law without a disciplinary procedure or assessment of fault.
Following the decision, Mitigan CIB is required to comply with Article 31, which mandates the destruction of all credit data held by such entities under procedures defined by the BCT and the national data protection authority.
What makes the case notable is that Mitigan CIB is not a new entrant. The company has operated in financial data services for around 15 years and was previously presented in 2016 as a pioneer of Tunisia’s first credit bureau initiative.
It later signed strategic partnerships, including with Enda Tamweel in 2019, to support digital lending.
Despite this institutional backing and regulatory grace period, the company did not meet the operational requirements within the allocated timeframe.
Beyond Mitigan CIB, the BCT’s decision sends a clear message to the financial sector: credit information licensing is not symbolic. It is a strict operational authorization with binding deadlines.
The case underscores a broader structural challenge in Tunisia’s financial ecosystem, where regulatory frameworks exist, but full operational implementation often lags behind.
