Finance for low-income segments: PBA announces strategic partnership with consortium

LAHORE: The Pakistan Banks' Association (PBA) has announced a strategic partnership with a consortium of leading financial services and technology businesses to improve access to finance for low-income segments of the population.

The consortium is comprised of Creditinfo Group, a global credit information and fintech service provider; Tasdeeq, Pakistan's first SBP licensed credit bureau, Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA); and Analytics, a leading artificial intelligence and big data analytics solutions provider. It will develop solutions for PBA to streamline risk assessments and enable a wider pool of applicants to access financing for their housing needs.

This project is being managed by the PBA Technology Working Group, comprising CEOs and members of Bank Alfalah, HBL and Faysal Bank as well as the CEO of PBA and a senior official of State Bank of Pakistan. This is a novel and unique project, and the first of its kind in Pakistan, where a scorecard will be developed using an alternative source of data.

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PBA CEO Tawfiq Husain said he was very excited with the transformational impact this project can have on the member banks' consumer lending and credit initiation and risk management capabilities.

"Starting with low-cost housing financing, we hope to be able to put this model to use for other products in consumer lending."

Creditinfo regional director Samuel White said the project will provide PBA members with the required tools to make accurate risk decisions on underserved segments of the population, which is fundamental to increasing access to housing finance.

Tasdeeq COO Omar Khalid commented that Tasdeeq PACRA and Analytics together bring a diverse array of expertise to the project. "This synergy coupled with Creditinfo's comprehensive global experience will be vital in development of low-cost housing credit scoring and income estimation models for the existing as well as new-to-bank customers utilizing alternative data sources," he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021