This article originally appeared in Finews Asia.

Without using a person's social media data, CredoLab can anonymously track a consumers' mobile behavior to determine the credit score, empowering banks and retailers to increase credit approvals.

Fintech firm CredoLab analyzes consumers' behaviors, matching them with the likelihood or willingness to repay. This has resulted in 48 percent more funding approvals and 39 percent less risk for its business customers.

The Singapore-based smartphone alternative credit scoring fintech does this by anonymously tracking consumers' mobile behavior using thousands of data-points, to determine the user's credit score. It was named the Top ASEAN Fintech (Open Category) at the MAS x ABS awards on Monday evening.

Reading Meta Data

The data is totally anonymous and protected, as the firm uses metadata so the data never leaves the phone, explains Peter Barcak, CEO of CredoLab who was speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2019.

«CredoLab reads 1st party (meta)data from consumer’s smartphones. However, metadata is not a consumer’s actual data. Instead, it is just a set of 0’s and 1’s that informs CredoLab whether a consumer meets specific criteria. There are over 5000 points in a smartphone device that enable CredoLab to “rank” a score depending on whether they meet them or not, said Barcak.

Social Media Data Less Accurate

CredoLab does not use social media data or psychometric testing, as they believe these are less accurate and more time consuming for users. To enhance accuracy, it connects with the lender's first-party data, plus a combination of Credolab’s data with a bank client’s existing customer data.

The firm's A.I. software is then able to analyze this metadata and deliver a more accurate score of default risk. Currently, CredoLab develops bank-grade digital scorecards for banks, consumer finance companies, auto lenders and counts CIMB Bank, Visa, GoBear, and Courts as its customers.