Yoma Bank says it aims transform mass market access to unsecured loans through their Smart Credit solution, putting customers in control of their own credit decision-making, according to a press release 9 August.
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 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. 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.
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.
“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. 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 80 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.
