Creditinfo West Africa Hits 20 Million Contracts
Creditinfo West Africa today marked a major milestone by hitting the 20 million contracts threshold and growing, in the regional Credit Information Bureau (BIC) making it a historic day for Creditinfo West Africa, the entire UEMOA region and Creditinfo Group.
Players in Baltic Markets (Latvia, Estonia) and Iceland Measure Risk better, benefitting from Covid-19 Impact Score Developed by Creditinfo.
Credit providers need to understand how COVID crisis affected their counter-parties and customers in order to better manage risk exposure and reduce losses. Current scoring models are unable to fully answer these needs as they were developed on pre-crisis data and need time to adjust to new conditions.
The way leading to the ‘haven’ of Startups is grounded by Data Analysis
Lithuania‘s transformation to the startup-friendly country has been successful: last year the first “unicorn” appeared in the market, and the startup ecosystem at present includes over 900 enterprises which have the great potential for business development based on innovations. And yet, the general conception of the startups’ contribution to the country’s economy has remained stereotypical, as it is alleged that these are risky enterprises which rapidly emerge and dissolve, and that they create few workplaces. The latest analyses done by “Creditinfo” and “Startup Lithuania” reject these stereotypes.
Thanks to Creditinfo, Estonia becomes the competence center of open banking
The Head of the company says a positive credit register is needed for boosting the Estonian credit market. Stefano Stoppani, Dubai-based Chairman of the Board of Creditinfo providing business information, solvency assessment and market analysis, intended to visit its offices in Estonia and the other Baltic countries in the beginning of March, but COVID-19 hampered with these plans. Europe is cautious in regulating both data protection and open banking. The aim of the PSD2 directive is to give third parties – licensed companies – access to a person’s bank account information. This is not done just because, but for providing better service, and obviously the account holder must authorize this. The third-party, for example, the creditor, can then see the income of the person and what the money is spent on. Information is needed to determine if the person is able to pay back the loan (s)he wants.
Keep an eye on Partners’ Payments, Lithuanian experts advise
The current situation in Lithuania compels businesses to regard its partners with a deeper mistrust. The enterprises face challenges of their survival – how to ensure the continuity of activities, reorientate its services, and not lose the clients. Even those businesses which have a sufficient number of clients, feel worried about whether their partners are still trustworthy and will make payments on time.
Digitalization Helps Lenders Overcome Challenges Caused By COVID-19
The rapid spread of the Coronavirus is impacting economic growth and market volatility is increasing thus impacting the industry through weakening investment returns and potentially adverse impact on the capital position of financial institutions around the world. A sustained economic slowdown triggered by the outbreak will put negative pressure on revenues and lead to a material increase in credit risk and a potential spike in claims including for health, credit and event cancellation insurance.
Never Has There Been Stronger Evidence for Mobile Loans in West African Economic and Monetary Union region
With many countries in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region in lockdown, bank branches empty and movement constrained; the case for a true, robust mobile lending ecosystem is stronger than ever. In global markets where mobile lending is nascent or inexistent, and the credit market is relegated to physical interaction between underwriter and customer, physical confinement and countrywide lockdowns are the equivalent of death sentences. Credit markets are frozen because critical communication is impossible. On the other hand, where digital wallets and e-money are common, no such barriers exist.
How alternative data can help unbanked population acquire traditional loans
By Dmitry Borodin, Head of Risk Analytics at Creditinfo Group
In societies of Digital Nomads, working from home Millennials, global migrations and emerging economies, lenders are often facing a shortage of relevant data to score and assess a big pool of population. Consequently, lenders are often unable to make decisions on so called ‘thin files’ due to a lack data. Thin file customers then remain excluded from formal finance.
Assessing credit risk of SME’s and how credit scoring can transform SME’s
Paul Randall was recently at the Kafalah SME Financing Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and he tackled these 2 questions during the panel discussion.
What are the specific challenges of assessing credit risk of SMEs as compared to larger firms and how can fintech can help lenders address those?
Creditinfo expands regionally, stores information in Jamaica
In his interview with The Gleaner, CEO of Creditinfo Jamaica – Craig Stephen highlighted on the regional success and the goal to venture into other caribbean markets in the near future.
