Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), a leading universal bank in Southeast Asia, ranked as Asia-Pacific’s second most helpful bank during COVID-19 and the only Philippine bank in the top 20 list, has signed a partnership agreement with FinScore, an alternative credit scoring company that is powered by telco data and advanced analytics, aiming to promote market efficiencies and expand the access of Filipinos to a broad range of financial services.
This collaboration is especially important amid the immense demand for digital loans and financing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This demand has been challenging for digital banks as Non-Performing Loans (NPL), or those unpaid at least 30 days past due date, soared and financial institutions in the Philippines were mandated to grant a 60-day grace period on loan payments under the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act. It also supports FinScore's mission to work with banks to improve financial inclusion and access to credit for consumers and small businesses left out of the traditional financial system.
FinScore and UnionBank are united by their commitment of harnessing technology to more quickly drive financial inclusion in the country. The partnership will enhance UnionBank’s credit decisions in several key products, including, but not limited to credit cards, quick loans, salary loans, POS loans, as well as enabling access to digital-first credit scoring solutions to its fully-owned subsidiaries.
FinScore is known to be the pioneer in Telco Data Credit Score in the Philippines. Telco data is based on over four hundred (400) telco variable as data and voice usage, top-up patterns, location, SIM age, and many more, among others. Combined with FinScore’s Machine Learning algorithms cutting-edge technologies, such as Gradient Boosting and Neuron Networks, FinScore is proven to have a highly predictive scoring power. FinScore scoring models has powered the telco credit scores of over 3.5 million Filipinos, leading to over $500 million in granted loans.
Christo Georgiev, Country Manager of FinScore, said, ‘’The FinScore team is both honored and excited to be working with Union Bank of the Philippines. Working arm in arm with the bank that is known to be the forerunner in banking and financial technology is a huge milestone for FinScore as we pursue our mission to help transform financial institutions of any size across the Philippines.’’
Manuel Santiago, Jr., Chief Mass Market and Financial Inclusion Executive of UnionBank said, “We at UnionBank look forward to a fruitful partnership with FinScore, enabling us to lend to even more Filipinos through digital-first credit scoring solutions. This is a critical step forward towards our greater purpose to uplift lives and enable inclusive prosperity by extending banking and financial services to the mass market and the unbanked.”
In the same year, FinScore also sealed a partnership with UnionBank’s financial technology spinoff, UBX. i2i, the country’s largest financial network, now offers a credit scoring portal for rural banks and financial service providers powered by FinScore that can fast-track and enhance loan underwriting process.