Page 216 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

4 Further analysis of the underwriting and loan process

Programs that use e-money data sometimes require a minimum number of days with the same phone number
and use of a mobile wallet account. These minimum requirements provide the lender (or credit decision
platform) with data over time to establish patterns of behaviour. These limits also serve to reduce fraudulent
account setups.

Table 4 – Examples of wait times

Company Wait time

Commercial Bank of Africa and 30-day savings or immediate if post-paid phone user
Safaricom

Faulu and Airtel >6 months mobile service and >2 months mobile money history

L-Pesa >6 months with mobile carrier and a minimum of 10 mobile money
transactions

Traditional banks 3-5 years in business

Several programs are reducing friction in the application process by removing the application step altogether.
These programs allow the customer to automatically complete an application by capturing data already known
by the customer’s telecom, digital wallet provider, or through their social media account. This saves customers
time and reduces data input errors and application abandonment.

Table 5 – Summary of application process

Company Application
Commercial Bank of Africa and None
Safaricom
Faulu and Airtel Yes

InVenture 5 minutes

Traditional banks In-person

Many programs require the customer to validate their identity by entering a National ID number. Some
programs have customers take a photo of their government-issued ID. Increasingly, programs are turning to
social media to validate identity, including name, location, education, and more.

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