Case study: Universal credit scoring for Female-led SMEs in Ethiopia

LenddoEFL collaborated with the World Bank Group to facilitate psychometric assessment for alternative credit scoring as part of the Women Entrepreneurship Development Project (WEDP) launched by the Government of Ethiopia.

The World Bank recently published an extensive and insightful report: “Designing a Credit Facility for Women Entrepreneurs Lessons from the Ethiopia Women Entrepreneurship Development Project (WEDP)”, which delves into different aspects of this project.

To download the full report please visit: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/34013/Designing-a-Credit-Facility-for-Women-Entrepreneurs-Lessons-from-the-Ethiopia-Women-Entrepreneurship-Development-Project.pdf?sequence=4

WEDP was launched in 2012 by the Ethiopian government with the aim of increasing the earnings and employment of growth-oriented micro and small enterprises (MSEs) owned or partly-owned by women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. LenddoEFL was selected to

Following are selected extracts from the World Bank Report regarding LenddoEFL’s contribution

From Page 11 of the Report:

“WEDP provided a stable anchor from which to innovate, including drawing on financial technology (fintech) as a means to maximize the operational efficiency and effectiveness of lenders, while relaxing collateral constraints for women entrepreneur borrowers. The success of introducing a non-traditional credit assessment methodology to a low-tech and low-literacy environment like Ethiopia stirred enthusiasm and buy-in from the financial sector.

Financial institutions’ traditional lending methodologies often require data on loan applicants, including their tax records, credit history, financial statements, and legal status. MSEs in general, and women-owned MSEs in particular, often lack sufficient credit history, reliable financial statements, and collateralizable assets. This is compounded in emerging markets like Ethiopia, where there is an absence of proper financial sector infrastructure, such as a credit information system, which can help lenders identify credit-worthy borrowers. Faced with such limitations, financial institutions rely on unduly large collateral requirements to minimize their exposure and risk. This results in many women-owned MSEs being excluded from the financial system, while financial institutions miss the opportunity to tap into a pool of potential borrowers.

In recent years, there has been a tide of financial technology, or “fintech”, that has been sweeping across the global financial landscape, which has introduced new tools, systems and business models — allowing financial institutions to accelerate MSE lending in a profitable and cost-effective manner. In early 2014, the WEDP team began investigating different technologies that could address the collateral constraint by closing the information gap among MFIs. Among the promising technologies was one developed by the Lenddo Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (LenddoEFL), whose approach does not rely on traditional financial statements, business plans, high-value physical assets, or borrowing histories. Rather, their value proposition was a universal credit score that was calculated based on a psychometric tool that evaluates the entrepreneur’s personal attributes, including “locus of control, fluid intelligence, impulsiveness, confidence, delayed gratification and conscientiousness.” LenddoEFL’s technology allows for an applicant to complete a 45-minute self-administered test on a tablet computer to determine his or her eligibility for a loan. While this technology had been used in other contexts to help banks improve and/or expand their portfolios, WEDP was among the first initiatives to harness this technology as a substitute for fixed asset collateral. Moreover, for those applicants who already had collateral, the test was designed to allow them to qualify for a larger loan size.

To pilot the psychometric testing, the Amhara Credit and Savings Institution (ACSI) was selected, as it is the largest MFI in the country, with over 1 million active borrowers, 440 branches and individual loans comprising 10 percent of its portfolio. ACSI saw the LenddoEFL technology as an opportunity to improve their ability to screen for individual loans even beyond their WEDP portfolio.

Despite EFL’s great track record in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia’s context presented a unique challenge. In addition to translating the test into Amharic, LenddoEFL worked to include more visuals and interactive exercises to cater to ACSI’s low-tech and low-literacy clients. Moreover, while ACSI was enthusiastic about the psychometric testing, it was understandably hesitant about relying too much on the technology, given the lack of an evidence base in Ethiopia. As such, EFL focused on testing clients without using the resulting score as the basis for the credit decision – allowing ACSI to observe the accuracy of the test without taking on any credit risk.

In 2015, the psychometric test was pre-piloted in two ACSI branches in Bahir Dar with 420 interested clients, and then piloted across 12 branches with 2,496 clients. As loans matured, WEDP was able to track the progress of the loan repayments. The data revealed a clear trend between psychometric test scores and loan performance. Those borrowers who scored higher on the test were seven times more likely to repay their loans than lower scoring customers. Further results and details of the study are available starting on page 45. 

“Having succeeded with one of Ethiopia’s largest financial institutions, the pilot demonstrated that a psychometrics-based loan screening system could be developed in the country, pushing the frontier of credit access for hundreds of thousands of collateral constrained borrowers. The ACSI experience demonstrated to policymakers and private sector leaders alike that fintech can make a profitable and profound difference to the Ethiopian economy. ”

Based on the proof-of-concept from the ACSI pilot, other MFIs began requesting for the psychometric technology. In 2018, WEDP launched the LenddoEFFL screening system with Wasasa. In 2020, ADCSI followed suit. Around this time, as an added incentive, DBE began providing additional liquidity (named “WEDP X”) to support MFIs who were eager to test out alternative collateral products. Moving forward, WEDP is likely to build on this incentive mechanism to facilitate further crowding in by other microfinance institutions across Ethiopia.”

Source: The World Bank

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Header photo by Stéphane Hermellin on Unsplash

LenddoEFL puede predecir el riesgo, pero ¿les gusta a nuestros clientes? MicroBank evalúa la usabilidad de LenddoEFL y el impacto en NPS

(English version below)

MicroBank, la entidad financiera española líder en microfinanzas en Europa, está evaluando constantemente sus procesos de cara al cliente, respecto a la usabilidad y la aceptación del usuario, una forma de actuar que supone una de sus prioridades. Cuando el banco desarrolla una innovación, se aplica el mismo nivel de escrutinio.

 Entonces, cuando MicroBank decidió usar LenddoEFL para evaluar el perfil crediticio emprendedores para acceder a préstamos, el despliegue estaba condicionado a una experiencia positiva de sus clientes.

 MicroBank empezó a medir la usabilidad del cuestionario de LenddoEFL, su impacto en el Net Promoter Score (NPS) con respecto al uso del microcrédito convenio entidades y cómo la gente se sentía al hacerlo.

 Para nuestro agrado, encontramos que el cuestionario de LenddoEFL es fácil, comprensible y de duración apropiada. Acá se observan algunos puntos relevantes:

• NPS: 84%, superando ampliamente nuestras expectativas

• Satisfacción global:  9.16 de 10

• Idoneidad: 82% encontró el cuestionario adecuado para evaluar a prestatarios del segmento micro. Esto es excelente comparado a las herramientas de la mayoría de los bancos, pero, obviamente, no dejamos de lado al 16% que no encontró el cuestionario adecuado. Nuestro equipo de producto trabaja 24 horas (literalmente, somos un equipo global) para mejorar constantemente nuestra evaluación de crédito – haciendo el contenido más fácil, más divertido, más rápido de completar, más predictivo y conveniente para todos los niveles de alfabetización y manejo de tecnología.

• Duración: Más del 70% encontró que el cuestionario tiene la duración correcta. Esto es bueno, pero queremos mejorar.

• Facilidad de uso: Más del 95% piensa que el cuestionario de LenddoEFL es fácil de completar.

MicroBank es un cliente exigente y este proceso nos ha ayudado a aprender y mejorar. Mientras que las noticias financieras están llenas de fintechs ayudando a bancos, este es un gran ejemplo de un banco mejorando a una fintech. Estamos muy contentos de que los resultados sean mejores de lo esperado, especialmente en un país como España, donde el acceso al crédito es generalmente bueno y la gente espera que el proceso se dé con la mínima fricción. Más aún, apreciamos que MicroBank nos haya desafiado para asegurar que nuestras herramientas superen las expectativas de sus clientes.

Esto nos hace mejores.

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Para descargar el white paper completo por favor ingresa tu dirección de correo electrónico debajo.

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LenddoEFL can predict risk, but do our clients like it? MicroBank evaluates the usability of LenddoEFL and the impact on NPS

MicroBank, the leading Spanish financial institution in microfinance in Europe, is constantly testing its client processes, regarding usability and user acceptance, ensuring these are always top priorities. When the bank launches an innovation, the same level of scrutiny applies.

So, when MicroBank decided to use LenddoEFL to assess the credit profile of entrepreneurs to access loans, the rollout was conditional on a positive customer experience.

MicroBank began to measure the usability of the LenddoEFL questionnaire, its impact on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) regarding the use of entities agreement microcredit, and how people felt about doing it.

MicroBank found the LenddoEFL questionnaire to be easy, understandable, and of appropriate duration. Here are some highlights:

• NPS: 84%, far exceeding our expectations

• Overall satisfaction: 9.16 out of 10

• Adequacy: 82% found the appropriate questionnaire to evaluate micro-segment borrowers. This is excellent compared to the tools of most banks, but obviously we will not leave out the 16% who did not find the questionnaire suitable. Our product team works 24 hours (we are literally a global team) to constantly improve our credit assessment - making content easier, more fun, faster to complete, more predictive and more suitable for all levels of literacy and access to technology.

• Duration: More than 70% found that the questionnaire was the right length. This is good, but we are working to reduce this.

• Ease of use: More than 95% think the LenddoEFL questionnaire is easy to complete.

MicroBank is a demanding customer and this process has helped us learn and improve.

While the financial news is full of FinTechs helping banks, this is a great example of a bank improving a FinTech. We are very happy that the results are better than expected, especially in a country like Spain, where access to credit is generally good and people expect the process to take place with minimal friction. Furthermore, we appreciate that MicroBank has challenged us to ensure that our tools exceed their customers' expectations.

This makes us better.

The Role of Financial Technology in Disaster Recovery Efforts

Oxfam Pilipinas, together with the Department of Health and other l non-government organizations, visited an evacuation area to assess the immediate needs of those affected by the Taal Volcano eruption in Batangas. (Photo: April Bulanadi/Oxfam)

When Taal Volcano erupted in January 2020, over 70,000 people were forced to take shelter in 300 evacuation centers – the start of a long period of displacement for many. A state of calamity was declared for the entire Calabarzon region. Local authorities expect this to be in effect for the rest of the year.

Elizabeth Embrado had just given birth to her child when Taal Volcano erupted in January. Fearing for their safety - because they lived just a few kilometers away from Taal Lake, in Barangay Nangkaan, in the town of Mataas na Kahoy -she and her family immediately evacuated. Elizabeth's family stayed at a school, which served as the local government's temporary evacuation facility back in January.

Along with displacement is the loss of livelihoods of thousands who rely on agriculture for a living, especially those who are subsistence farmers and fishers. The Department of Agriculture estimated damage to crops to be over $60 million, while local fisheries suffered more than $30 million in damages. This was another burden faced by Elizabeth's family, whose husband works as a fisherman. She said her husband had to stop fishing in the lake because of the eruption. All of this while they had new financial needs with their newborn.

Elizabeth, with her one-month-old baby, in a classroom which serves as a temporary evacuation center in Mataas na Kahoy town, Batangas province. Elizabeth and her baby are among those displaced by the Taal Volcano eruption in January. (Photo: April Bulanadi/Oxfam)

The loss of livelihoods will impact the recovery of affected communities for a long time to come. Humanitarian and development agency Oxfam highlighted early on the need for emergency response plans to anticipate the prolonged displacement of communities within the hazard zone. There was initially an outpouring of support to help displaced families, but there is a critical need to ensure that support continues into the recovery phase.

During Oxfam’s visit to Elizabeth and other displaced families in January, while they expressed gratitude for the relief assistance they received from various groups, they expressed how they would actually much rather receive cash assistance. Indeed, cash support would empower Elizabeth and others to prioritize their needs and increase their sense of self-worth, dignity, and control over their lives. For Elizabeth, her priority needs were essential items for her newborn baby, and livelihood support.

“Our experience in responding to humanitarian emergencies has taught us how economic empowerment is critical to the resilience of Filipinos, particularly women from marginalized communities. This includes access to financial services, access that can be facilitated increasingly through digital platforms. Not only that, digital financial technologies also provide a safer and more dignified way to support affected communities, and help jumpstart local economies by increasing people’s access to financial services,” Oxfam Pilipinas Country Director Lot Felizco said.

Digital financial technology is playing a key role in helping communities in the recovery effort. Oxfam has partnered with Singapore-based FinTech, LenddoEFL, for its digital identity verification solution, known as electronic know your customer (eKYC). This technology allows the user’s identity to be verified faster and more effectively, directly from their mobile device. This enables cash to reach the recipient more efficiently during a humanitarian response. LenddoEFL is providing its services free of charge to support the disbursement of funds to families displaced by the eruption.

“The task of rebuilding requires a considered and tailored approach, guided by those on the frontlines. It is through authentic partnerships, like Oxfam and LenddoEFL, that effective change can be made,” LenddoEFL CEO, Paolo Montessori said.

“We are a mission-driven company, and we are proud to be working with Oxfam at this critical time for the people in the Calabarzon region,” Montessori added.

LenddoEFL first partnered with Oxfam Philippines in 2018 following the devastation wrought by Typhoon Ompong. LenddoEFL’s eKYC solution was deployed to streamline financial assistance to over 1,000 farmers in Cagayan province.

This means the registered farmers were able to access a wide range of financial services, including savings accounts and loans from Philippine financial institutions, in line with regulations of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Regulations in the Philippines have required face-to-face or real-time online interviews to register new-to-card, or new-to bank current account/savings account customers. With this innovation, farmers could be verified faster and more conveniently from their mobile phones.

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About LenddoEFL

LenddoEFL offers software solutions to bridge the gap between lenders and the underserviced. Financial Institutions trust our software solutions to power their financial products, enabling them to reach previously untapped market segments, driving their bottom line. LenddoEFL is built upon over ten years of academic investment purely in risk and decision-making algorithms, having been founded at Harvard. We use AI and advanced analytics to bring together the best sources of digital and behavioral data to help lenders in emerging markets confidently serve underbanked people and small businesses.

About Oxfam

Oxfam is an international confederation of 20 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty. Oxfam Pilipinas has been working in the country for more than 30 years. Its goal is to contribute to the eradication of poverty by supporting women and other vulnerable groups in saving lives and building livelihoods, enhancing their resilience to crises, and making their voices heard of holding duty-bearers accountable.

Header Photo by Lance Lozano on Unsplash

FintechNews.Sg | RCBC Embarks on Digital KYC with LenddoEFL to Onboard Millions of Unbanked Filipinos

Originally posted on fintechnews.sg

PHILIPPINES (Fintechnews) October 22, 2019 – Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) has sealed a partnership with LenddoEFL for faster and more convenient financial account opening for Filipinos through an end-to-end digital verification and authentication solution.  To date, Know Your Customer (KYC) processes have always required a face-to-face or real-time online interview to onboard bank customers.

“With digital KYC, consumers, particularly those who are unbanked, can open deposit accounts, apply for loans online, take out new insurance policies, do money transfers, and pay more than 2,000 billers through RCBC’s DiskarTech virtual bank in less than five minutes, anytime, anywhere. This is simply commoditizing customer convenience in an era when consumers prefer to interact through online channels,” said executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer Lito Villanueva.

Government regulator Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has been at the forefront in championing inclusive digital finance and digitalization through emerging regulations leveraging on technology. “Overcoming the barriers to digital connectivity will not only promote accessibility to digital financial products, but will allow innovators to improve the design, enhance security features, and drive down the cost of financial services,” in a speech delivered by BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno at the recent 2019 Financial Executives (FINEX) conference.

“This is a game-changer as we continue to adopt alternative digital verification to help push for a more secure, faster and reliable verification process to onboard more unbanked and underserved segments into the financial system, supporting BSP's mission of financial inclusion,” said Judith Dumapay, APAC Sales Director Philippines, LenddoEFL.

Based on the 2017 Financial Inclusion Survey, only 23% of Filipino adults have a formal account. Only 48% of adults save, but 7 in 10 savers keep their savings at home. Of the 22% of Filipino adults who avail loans, 4 in 10 do so through informal sources.

South China Morning Post | Technology guides RCBC Bankard’s strategy for new clients

Originally posted on South China Morning.

Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports www.discoveryreports.com

More than an alternative payment method for cash, credit cards today function more as a multi-purpose card as many institutions incorporate incentives such as airline miles, dining credits, discounts and more. Understanding how credit cards need to be more relevant and more integrated to the lifestyles of users, RCBC Bankard is dedicated to developing cards that address their requirements.

Specialising in lending and payments facilitation, RCBC Bankard, the credit card arm of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), is among the fastest-growing credit card brands in the Philippines. It steadily built its technological knowledge and capabilities to rapidly bring to market a curated portfolio of products and services.

The Philippine market is generally underserved. We want to issue five million credit cards in the Philippines in 10 years

Simon Calasanz, president and CEO

Available under major card association brands Visa, Mastercard, JCB and UnionPay, RCBC Bankard offers 11 co-brand credit cards, including tie-ups with AirAsia, MANGO and Phoenix Petroleum, among others.

“We regularly assess the transaction behaviour of customers to customise our offers for them. We tailor everything according to analytics,” says president and CEO Simon Calasanz.

As more consumers increasingly lead digital lifestyles, RCBC Bankard will be launching a mobile app by the end of this year. It also plans to increase customer touch points through text messaging and online messaging support.

To further advance its technological expertise, RCBC Bankard is actively partnering with financial technology firms to enhance and optimise its operations. In the past few years, RCBC Bankard has been working with Singapore-based fintech LenddoEFL, a market leader in alternative credit scoring and Filipino identity verification solutions, to speed up its digital transformation. RCBC Bankard and LenddoEFL effectively allow new-to-bank applicants to use their digital footprints to unlock access to financial services with the use of cloud-based solutions fully aligned with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas requirements.

RCBC Bankard is bullish about becoming among the top credit card companies. “The Philippine market is generally underserved. We want to issue five million credit cards in the Philippines in 10 years,” Calasanz says.

www.rcbcbankard.com

How mobile data improve client engagement

For most people, the smartphone is an essential part of daily life. We carry it around wherever we go, and we spend an inordinate amount of time interacting with it throughout the day. As such, it’s no surprise that the smartphone reveals quite a lot about us. Your phone is a proxy for your personality.

In fact, smartphone data has established itself as an effective data sources for credit scoring. This has been especially valuable for the so-called thin-file segment, where applicants have little or no credit history nor other reliable sources of financial information.

However, as useful as smartphone data has been to the credit industry, there are many other use cases for this data source. In this article, we will explore how smartphone data was used to predict an individual’s need for health insurance. The following data was obtained through an engagement with a large insurer in Southeast Asia, who wanted to determine if their mobile app users that would be responsive to a health insurance offer.

Let’s now see theory in action!

Your phone contacts shows your organizational skills.

How contacts are labeled on a smartphone can be quite telling of your personality. When a new contact is added, there are many details you can fill-in. At a minimum, you have to complete the contact’s name and phone number. However, you can also add a number of other details, such as their email, company, address, and birthday. Having more than just names and phone numbers on your contact list indicate a higher degree of perfectionism and organization. Those traits are represented by those with a high level of awareness and attention, who want to have order and control over all the events of their lives. They plan for their future. That means that they are the ideal customer to offer an insurance product which allow them to minimize potential risks.

The chart below shows the percentage of population split by the percentage of completed contact information that they have in their phones and each group propensity  to acquire an insurance product. If it is considered that population with less than 30% of their contacts information completed as the group with lowest probability to buy, it is possible to affirm that people who complete more than 50% of their contacts’ details are more than 1.5 times likely to buy an insurance product compared to those who belong to the first group.

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Your phone calendar determines your daily schedule and priorities.

How you use your smartphone calendar is another good source of insight. For example, we can see how much time you spend in meetings versus how much time you spend in social events. The habit of scheduling upcoming activities is also an indicator of how organized you are and how well you plan. We have seen that people with these traits, as measured by calendar behavior, are in fact more likely to acquire an insurance product. This is most likely driven by their focus on planning for expected (and unexpected) events.

In the chart below, people were grouped according to the number of calendar events they scheduled.  The chart shows that there is a correlation between an individual’s propensity to buy an insurance product and the number of entries in his/ her phone calendar.

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Your mobile apps show personal interests.

Another interesting data category relates to the types of apps that you have installed on your smartphone. This is particularly insightful since your apps directly correspond to your hobbies, tastes, interests, etc. People who are keen on games usually have a lot of gaming apps installed. People who are interested in finance have apps related to banking, investments, and even blockchain. If someone has many apps related to sports, health, and healthy lifestyle, that person is likely to be someone who takes good care of himself and is a good prospect for an insurance product.

Going back to our insurance use case, the plot below shows that people with health apps installed are 30% more likely to respond to the insurance offer compared to someone without health apps.

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Statistics is the data not your personal information.

We should clarify that companies that use smartphone data are just interested in statistics and the insights you can infer from them. They are not interested in knowing the phone numbers of your family and friends nor the details of your mailing address. The focus is on statistics, predictions, and associations, as they are generated by complex machine learning algorithms. 

As a final note, mobile data should be used as a tool to reach more individuals in need of financial services while further enriching insights on clients, to be able to provide the appropriate products. Financial inclusion is lagging behind digital inclusion, where 1.7 billion individuals and SMEs are still unbanked while registered unique mobile subscribers is already at 5.1 billion. LenddoEFL has been working with mobile data as basis of scoring and predictive analytics for ten years. We have proven and deployed multiple models that help financial institutions with their credit and financial decisioning, at the same time allowing thin-file clients to use their mobile data to access life improving financial services.

Reference:

https://cybersecurityventures.com/how-many-internet-users-will-the-world-have-in-2022-and-in-2030/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/570389/philippines-mobile-phone-user-penetration/

https://www.gsma.com/r/mobileeconomy/

PRWeb.com | Oxfam & LenddoEFL Partner to Help Disaster-Hit Communities, Aligned with BSP Initiatives

A partnership between an international organization and FinTech company that aims to improve financial inclusion and digital finance economy in the Philippines.

LenddoEFL CEO Paolo Montessori (left) and Oxfam Philippines Country Director Maria Rosario Felizco (right) during a meeting with BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier (center) on June 6, 2019.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (PRWEB) JUNE 06, 2019

A financial technology innovation will help more people from remote communities affected by disasters get faster and more convenient access to financial services.

The innovation is the result of a partnership between international development organization Oxfam, together with a licensed financial institution, and software company LenddoEFL, which aims to give financial inclusion support “to the poor, underserved, and unbanked” in line with the initiatives of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Oxfam in the Philippines Country Director Maria Rosario Felizco expressed optimism that this partnership would not only provide more efficient registration disaster-affected populations and ensure financial inclusion, but also help boost local economies by increasing access to financial services such as micro-credit and weather-based insurance.

“We have seen how the innovative use of digital cash technologies has transformed the lives of Filipinos, particularly women from marginalized communities. In contributing to their economic empowerment, we also amplify efforts in fighting poverty and increasing resilience in the face of disasters and conflicts,” Felizco said.

At least 1,000 farmers from Cagayan province who were affected by Typhoon Ompong in 2018 have benefited from the electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) product, which is an alternative digital verification process to register unbanked and unserved people.

This means the registered farmers may now be able to access a wide-range of financial services, including savings accounts and loans from Philippine financial institutions, in line with regulations of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

At least 1,000 farmers from Cagayan province who were affected by Typhoon Ompong in 2018 have benefited from the electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) product, which is an alternative digital verification process to register unbanked and unserved people.

This means the registered farmers may now be able to access a wide-range of financial services, including savings accounts and loans from Philippine financial institutions, in line with regulations of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Currently, Know Your Customer regulations in the Philippine have always required face-to face or real-time online interviews to register new-to-card or new-to bank current account/savings account customers.

With this innovation, farmers will be verified faster and more conveniently from their mobile phone.

Oxfam Philippines Country Director, Maria Rosario Felizco sharing about their work in Cagayan region.

“With our end-to-end fully digital verification solution, we are able to prevent fraud, ensure Oxfam aligns with Bangko Sentral requirements and quickly and efficiently onboard beneficiaries at scale” said Paolo Montessori, CEO of LenddoEFL.

He added, “We are proud to partner with Oxfam and help Filipino communities that need urgent financial support. Providing a solution to help disaster-stricken Filipino communities get access to financial services at a lower cost, faster and more conveniently is a step further to LenddoEFL’s mission of financial inclusion.”

Data from BSP’s latest Financial Inclusion Survey show that 52.8 million, or 77.4 percent of adult Filipinos, remain unbanked. Of these, 60 percent cited not having enough money as a reason, while 18-percent of the respondents said they do not have the documents required to open an account.

The innovation will also aim to support communities frequented by typhoons in Eastern Samar, and those displaced by the armed conflict in Maguindanao, where Oxfam and its local partners currently implement humanitarian responses.

The initiative builds on the lessons learned from previous humanitarian cash transfer programs during Super Typhoon Yolanda and the Marawi crisis, which pioneered affordable digital financial services for poor communities in the Philippines.

Originally posted on PRWeb.com

Lendit.com | LenddoEFL one of Lendit Fintech Industry Award Finalist 2019

LenddoEFL is one of the finalists of Lendit Fintech 2019’s Excellence in Financial Inclusion award.

To see the complete list, go to Lendit website.

FintechNews.SG | 12 Companies Score SG$1.2 Mil at The Singapore Fintech Awards 2018

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) today awarded 12 FinTech companies a total of SG$1.2 million divided for 12 different companies at the Fintech Awards, which took place at the third Singapore FinTech Festival.

This time around, the awards featured a greater ASEAN representation, with a focus on financial inclusion,  spanning different business areas like credit-scoring, mobile security, anti-money laundering, and digital investment. The Fintech Awards, supported by PwC, recognises innovative FinTech solutions that have been implemented by FinTech companies, financial institutions and technology companies.

This year, 40 finalists were shortlisted from more than 280 global submissions including the companies who participated in the ASEAN PitchFest6. The winners were selected by a panel of 17 judges who represent a cross-section of international and local experts from the private and public sectors. The entries were evaluated based on four criteria: impact, practicality, interoperability, and uniqueness and creativity.

The panel of judges includes representatives from Accenture Technology, Allianz, AMTD Group, Credit Ease, DBS, Deloitte, GIC, Grammen Foundation India, HSBC, Insignia Venture Partners, Jungle Ventures, Mastercard, The Boston Consulting Group, The Disruptive Group, True Global Ventures, UOB and Vertex Ventures.

ASEAN Open Award

Top 3

First Place: LenddoEFL (Philippines)

The company wants to provide people access to powerful financial products without exorbitant costs, quickly and more conveniently by using AI and advanced analytics to bring together digital and behavioural data. This helps lenders serve the underbanked. LenddoEFL has provided credit scoring, verification and insights to 50+ financial institutions, serving over 7 million people.

To continue reading, click here.

MAS.gov.sg | Twelve innovative FinTech solutions recognised at the 2018 FinTech Awards

Singapore, 14 November 2018… The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) today awarded 12 FinTech companies a total of S$1.2 million at the FinTech Awards, which took place at the third Singapore FinTech Festival.

ASEAN Open Award

1st place – LenddoEFL (Philippines)

2nd place – SQREEM Technologies (Singapore) 

3rd place – Finantix Asia Pacific (Singapore) 

ASEAN SME Award

1st place – FinAccel Teknologi (Indonesia)

2nd place – Katipult (Thailand)

3rd place – MoneyMatch Transfer (Malaysia)

Singapore Founder Award

1st place – CCRManager

2nd place – Cynopsis Solutions

3rd place – Thin Margin

Global Award

1st place – Everspin (South Korea) 

2nd place – Naffa Innovations (India)

3rd place – Keychain (Japan)

APAC CIO Outlook | 8 AWS Do's and Don'ts Learned from 8 Years Scaling Across 20 Countries and 300 Serviers

Originally posted on APAC CIO Outlook website. Refer to this link to read full article.

by Howard Lince III, Director of Enginerring, LenddoEFL

At LenddoEFL, we work at the intersection of big data, machine learning, and financial inclusion in emerging markets. Each of these imply a level of server sophistication that would be cripplingly difficult without Amazon Web Services (AWS). Our mission is to provide one billion people access to powerful financial products at a lower cost, faster and more conveniently. We use AI and advanced analytics to bring together the best sources of digital and behavioral data to help lenders in emerging markets confidently serve underbanked people and small businesses. To date, we have provided credit scoring, verification and insights products to 50+ financial institutions, serving seven million people. We’ve been able to manage all of this with a team of three infrastructure engineers managing 300+ servers. Read full article.