June 17, 2018 — In emerging markets around the world, people have limited access to financial products, especially credit. Experian has developed a sustainable solution to provide billions of people with easy access to financial products, unlocking the power of alternative data. Since 2010, Experian’s MicroAnalytics solution has extended more than 5 billion credit offers in countries across Asia, Latin America, Africa and beyond.
“2017 was our fastest-growing year, with our systems issuing more than 2 billion credit offers,” said Elio Vitucci, CEO of Experian MicroAnalytics. “Our goal is to help people in emerging markets build a strong financial identity. We build financial identities using mobile phone behavioral data, one of the richest sources of customer insights, and unlock an initial set of financial products. As customers use these products, they strengthen their financial identities and obtain access to an increasingly wider set of financial services.”
While only a minority of people in emerging markets have access to banking services and even fewer have access to credit services, the vast majority have a mobile phone, most on a prepaid plan. Experian partners with mobile network operators around the world, using mobile behavioral data to start creating initial financial identities for people. With these financial identities, customers can start to gain access to simple but useful financial products, such as airtime credit.
As customers continue to take and repay their borrowed airtime credits successfully, they strengthen their financial identities and progressively unlock a wider, more complete set of financial services. This creates a virtuous circle, where in time customers graduate to a full set of financial products.
“Our MicroAnalytics solution has a powerful role to play in impacting the lives of consumers in emerging markets, especially within Southeast Asia. With nearly 70 percent of these credit offers through our solution being generated within Asia, we have extended more than 3 billion credit offers across the region.” said Dev Dhiman, Managing Director for Southeast Asia and Emerging Markets, Experian. “For the unbanked population, a financial identity unlocks access to financial products such as loans, credit cards, insurance and ultimately giving consumers a better quality of life and drive economic progress.”
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.
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