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SINGAPORE, Aug. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yoma Bank, one of the largest private banks in Myanmar, together with Experian, the world leader in information services, has revolutionised and made unsecured lending more accessible in Myanmar with the enhancement of its Smart Credit solution. Smart Credit is the first product of its kind in Myanmar to offer unsecured loans to mass market customers and will help provide greater financial access to the country's unbanked population.
With close to 54 million in population and the number of Myanmar citizens with formal financial access at just 48% in 2018, according to the findings of the 2018 Making Access Possible (MAP) study, there is immense potential for lending institutions in Myanmar to leapfrog digitally, adapting their channels and services to meet customer needs even in rural areas, hence driving financial inclusion. This growth is primarily driven by the explosion in smartphones and internet penetration. With the Smart Credit solution, Yoma Bank and Experian are at the forefront to provide digital services for borrowing, payments and savings, while promoting responsible lending. Responsible lending helps protect customers from taking on debts that they are not in a position to repay.
Using Yoma Bank's mobile banking app, which is fast, agile and scalable, customers can apply for unsecured personal loans through Experian's Digital Onboarding platform. Approval decisions are processed by Experian's Decisioning engine. The engine parses real-time requests based credit scores and provides associated credit decisions for micro-lending requests. It draws from a range of data sources that are unique to developing markets such as Myanmar, combining data from the customer's mobile operator, historical banking data, demographics and self-reported data.
The Smart Credit loan application platform is designed to put the customer in control of their own credit decision-making, with each approval based on the customer's individual banking, savings and transaction behaviour. The Smart Credit partnership enables Yoma Bank with the capability to leverage on alternative data to make better lending decisions and is based on Experian's best practice Digital Onboarding solution.
Dev Dhiman, Managing Director, Southeast Asia & Emerging Markets, Experian said, "The Smart Credit solution represents an innovation in a market like Myanmar with limited public data on clients or businesses available, and is the first product of its kind to pioneer access to unsecured loans for consumers in a convenient and automated manner at scale."
"Our partnership with Yoma Bank reinforces our focus on responsible lending, expanding lender visibility and improving credit access. It also reaffirms and strengthens Experian's ongoing commitment to Myanmar by enabling and deepening access to formal financial banking services for millions of people in the country," he added.
Experian's decisioning capabilities will help provide a more comprehensive consumer credit view of thin-file customers with increased potential for credit inclusiveness, with the ability to leverage new types of alternative data for risk evaluation, while providing a unique view of how accounts are performing in the early stages of credit relationships.
"The Smart Credit solution will enable Yoma Bank to acquire new retail banking customers. The platform is also agile, allowing the bank to quickly respond to changes in credit targeting or criteria. Moving ahead, we hope that this will also motivate customers to use our mobile banking app regularly," said Mark Flaming, Chief Digital Officer, Yoma Bank. "Experian has an outstanding track record with creating onboarding journeys and decision engines globally. We're thrilled and honoured to be working with a like-minded partner to enhance the lives of consumers across the country," he added.
The Smart Credit solution eliminates tedious paperwork, enabling loan applications to be completed in just minutes. The platform has enabled Yoma Bank to acquire 1,100 new retail banking customers a day - up from 500 a day six months ago. The customer acquisition growth has been 120 percent within the first six months of the launch of the solution. Within three months, customers are averaging 15 transactions a month across Yoma Bank's products.
Built on a scalable lending platform, the solution is designed to meet the needs of the geographically diverse Myanmar market and makes it easier for consumers to enter Yoma Bank's financial ecosystem. The enhanced digital offerings will complement Yoma Bank's 70 physical branches in Myanmar, enhancing financial access for small businesses as well as unbanked individuals nationwide.
Yoma Bank and Experian were recently awarded The Asian Banker's Business Achievement Awards category of "Best Data and Analytics Initiative, Application or Programme 2019" at The Financial Technology Innovation Awards Programme 2019. The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with The Future of Finance Summit, the foremost annual meeting for decision makers in the financial services industry in the Asia Pacific region, held in Bangkok on 30 May 2019.
About Experian
Experian is the world's leading global information services company. During life's big moments - from buying a home or a car, to sending a child to college, to growing a business by connecting with new customers - we empower consumers and our clients to manage their data with confidence. We help individuals to take financial control and access financial services, businesses to make smarter decisions and thrive, lenders to lend more responsibly, and organisations to prevent identity fraud and crime.
We have 16,500 people operating across 39 countries and every day we're investing in new technologies, talented people and innovation to help all our clients maximise every opportunity. We are listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and are a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Learn more at http://www.experian.com.sg/ or visit our global content hub at our global news blog for the latest news and insights from the Group.
About Yoma Bank
Founded in 1993, Yoma Bank is Myanmar's most progressive domestic banks. Over the past few years, Yoma Bank has made significant investments in strategic priorities - people, technology and corporate governance. Yoma Bank is Myanmar's fifth largest bank by assets with 3000+ employees and 80 branches across the country. In 2015, Yoma Bank formed a strategic partnership with Telenor (Myanmar's largest foreign Telco) to develop nationwide digital financial services through the formation of Wave Money, a mobile financial services company. Yoma Bank is committed to financial inclusion in Myanmar.
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