Ugo Aliogo
Following the recent crackdown of some digital loan firms in Lagos State by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the Chief Rating Officer, DataPro Limited, Mr. Oladele Adeoye, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to place a caveat on the operations of the firms in the country in order to restore sanity in the financial service sector.
He said findings revealed that some of the digital loan companies were operating illegally, and evade regulations meant at checkmating their activities. He stated that the impact of having unlicenced digital loan firms was that interest rate charged, the procedure of loan approval and recovery would not be regulated, adding that if there was high level of regulatory gap, then there was bound to be a lot of abuses.
Adeoye, who disclosed this yesterday in Lagos during the launch of Tigran-for-Datapro, an artificial intelligence technology, revealed that for the licensed digital loan firms, their activities impact the economy positively by creating demand and ability to purchase which implies that those who are on the supply side are able to do their businesses, make their money in the immediate and this helps to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Speaking on the newly launched application, he said the app was ideal for deposit money banks (DMBs), merchant and investment banks, mortgage banks, microfinance banks, insurance companies, capital market Operators (CMOs), FinTechs, multinationals, conglomerates, and manufacturing companies, in order to digitalise and automate their credit risk underwriting process with the integration of different components of user credit policy and data sources.
“The product will deliver to the market a stand-alone solution on customised quantitative and qualitative analyses, forecast analysis, debt capacity simulation, portfolio analysis, probability of default modeling, and expected credit loss modeling,” he said.
Reacting to the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer, Modefinance, Mattia Ciprian, said the credit market needs more and more fast evaluations with high accuracy.
He added that modefinance was engaged on a daily basis in supporting organisations all over the world, with greater focus on the African continent.
Ciprian expressed delight with the partnership, noting that DataPro is a rating agency with a strong technological heart.
Continuing, Adeoye added: “We recognise that credit decision-making needs to be effective and efficient. This has become necessary today, as customers are looking forward to speedy, convenient, and cost-effective services from providers. A technology that can assist Financial Institutions and Corporate Bodies whose businesses run on credit to make informed decisions, therefore, becomes essential.
The partnership between modefinance and DataPro will bring to bear African and European experiences in developing the credit decision-making process in Nigeria.”
