Experian is currently expanding its Experian X Labs, an innovation lab looking into becoming an Asia Pacific incubator and collaboration center. The goal is partly to address the gaps in financial inclusion well-known amongst Asia Pacific nations.
One of the solutions currently in development is the Experian X Score, a credit-scoring system based on alternative data. The solution targets more than 200 million consumers across Asia Pacific that could strengthen their financial identities and progressively grant access to a wider set of financial services.
A solution like this could cut through the Catch-22 experienced by various unbanked populations across different Asia Pacific countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, etc. Unbanked individuals may have the means or the intention of paying back on any loans they take, but because they do not have a record with banks, they cannot access crucial financial services. The inability to gain credit could hinder these populations from contributing to the economy, or in many situations, bring themselves out of poverty.
Alternative credit scoring could be a boon to these populations, provide a bigger clientele to entrenched institutions that have grown more keen on SME financing, and for P2P loan companies looking to reduce risk.
These developments will follow Experian’s previously launched Prove-ID in India, an automated identity and address verification service that helps over 7 million marginalised Indian citizens gain access to government and financial services. Prove-ID gathers key consumer insights from multiple data sources and helps banks verify customers at a faster and more efficient rate.
Beyond this, the team at the innovation lab is also working to seed and develop Asia Pacific-wide solutions aligned with Experian’s core 
areas of expertise around financial inclusion, digital payments and consumer enablement through advanced data analytics, research and development.
Source: Fintech News
