CredoLab, which develops bank-grade digital scorecards based on mobile device data is launching in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya to help banks, consumer finance companies, auto lenders, online and mobile lenders, insurance companies, and retailers develop digital scorecards to increase their customer base.
The launch in Africa, according to the Singapore-based firm is after it signed up three new banks on the content. CredoLab has developed scorecards for over USD 1 billion in loans issued by more than 50 lenders across 15 countries.
According to Peter Barcak, co-founder and CEO of CredoLab, “The growing penetration of Android smartphones and KaiOS smart-feature-phones currently outpaces the penetration of bank accounts in the continent. This presents an immense opportunity for fintechs like CredoLab to tap into behavioural data to assess the creditworthiness of any user and enable them to receive loans at fair terms, even in the absence of credit history.“
“Our entry into the region has seen strong momentum in client engagements and partnerships, and we will continue to build on this success by maintaining a positive experience for our clients and identifying opportunities to work with government and industry initiatives to facilitate financial inclusion. We started in South Africa and will soon launch in Ghana, and look at targeting Nigeria and Kenya in early 2020,”
Built on mobile device data and powered by AI, CredoLab’s machine learning algorithm yields secure and customised alternative credit scoring solution which is expected to be of great aid in financial inclusion in Africa.
The firm adds that its proprietary algorithm makes use of anonymous, non-personal, consented smartphone metadata to predict the creditworthiness of users. There is a great opportunity for CredoLab’s in Africa with projections of increasing smartphone penetration in sub-Saharan Africa and predicted to double by 2025.