Credit Risk & Scoring

Lending is one of the main elements of the modern financial system. In one way or another, most people rely on loans from banks – whether these are credits, mortgages, installments, credit cards to pay for critical goods and services. An important role in this process is played by credit bureaus that collect, store, process and transmit information on borrowers’ payment discipline, credit scoring and current obligations.

However, when people move to a new country or are forcibly evicted from their homes due to occupation or fleeing war – this is what many Ukrainians are currently experiencing – it becomes much more difficult to access financial and other services. This unfortunately disadvantages refugees and adds to the problem regardless of whether they had good or bad credit history before.

Aiming to resolve issues related to solvency confirmation of the tenant from Ukraine and checking the credit history of Ukrainians when applying for a loan or employment, JSC “IBCH” (one of the largest Credit History Bureaus in Ukraine, a member of the international Creditinfo Group since May 2021) created the “MBKI online” chatbot.

For more than 16 years IBCH (Creditinfo Ukraine) has been cooperating with the largest banks and non-bank financial institutions, including foreign financial institutions and credit bureaus of other countries. The organization is now focusing its attention on supporting Ukrainians, both in Ukraine and abroad, with getting access to credit reports.

Kateryna Danylchenko, CEO of JSC “IBCH” (Creditinfo Ukraine), stated, “Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, over 6 million people – including myself, my fellow colleagues and partners– have been forced to leave the country at short notice with no idea if or when they will return. Displaced Ukrainian refuges face a whole host of challenges without necessary documentation or access to registries. While JSC “IBCH” (MBKI, Creditinfo Ukraine) became the first Ukrainian bureau to launch cross-border data sharing with bureaus from 5 countries, it is also important to assure easy and mobile direct-to-consumer gate to credit history reports. “MBKI online” is so important in helping Ukrainians staying in country and abroad gain online access to their credit histories (also in English), so they can prove their ability to make payments on time to landlords or new employers, follow their credit history updates and bureau score change, as well as to report about lost identification documents.”

“Creditinfo was set up to aid financial inclusion through making credit information more easily accessible and digestible for borrowers and lenders.” – comments Paul Randall, CEO Creditinfo Group. “I’m so glad that there’s something practical we’ve been able to do to help Ukrainian refugees across Europe to access financial services. The creation of this chatbot is an important development in our journey to make the lives of everyone forcibly displaced by this war that tiny bit easier.”

The “MBKI online” chatbot, available on Viber and Telegram, gives Ukrainians access to their own credit history and offers an easy way of identification including using BankID.

Chatbot enables the customer:

• To get a certificate about credit history (in Ukrainian and English);

• To find out personal credit score;

• To get answers to basic questions about credit history;

• To inform the Bureau about the loss of a passport or other identity document;

• To ask for a loan and find out available offers.

Chatbot accepts different payment methods (including bank card, Apple Pay and Google Pay). For more information and to start working with the service, follow the link: https://credithistory.com.ua/bots/

This note analyzes the evolution of Credit Information Systems, including the emergence of new technologies that use alternative data in credit decisioning and the opportunities and risks associated with these trends. This paper also predicts the potential development effect of these disruptive technologies and proposes a role for the World Bank Group in leveraging these technologies to promote inclusion and stability. 

To prepare this fintech note, the authors have consulted our data site “MSME Finance Gap" and members Experian and Creditinfo have collaborated as peer reviewers.