GCash AI-powered lending services break barriers, provide innovative loan options for unbanked, underserved Filipinos

GCash harnesses AI capabilities to expand credit access for Filipinos

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As generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes more integrated into work and society, the Philippines’ leading finance app and largest cashless ecosystem, GCash, is using the technology for good. Through its lending arm, Fuse, GCash is creating opportunities for Filipinos to access financial services by breaking down barriers of traditional lending systems. Now, with the power of AI, GCash is making it even easier by enhancing credit scoring and collections, ensuring more Filipinos can achieve their financial goals.

“AI has transformed our loan scoring and collections, making credit more accessible and repayments easier,” said Fuse Lending president and CEO Tony Isidro. “By using AI to assess the user’s eligibility and streamline collections, we’re able to offer a more ethical and efficient lending experience and better serve millions of Filipinos.”

Unequal access to credit remains a barrier to financial inclusion in the Philippines. Loan approval from traditional banks and financial institutions requires credit history, collateral, and income verification, leaving Filipinos from the lower socio-economic classes unqualified. Many also shy away from the loan application process due to lengthy procedures and excessive paperwork.

Many Filipinos face financial challenges and turn to informal lenders for help. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2022 Financial Inclusion report revealed that while the number of borrowers has increased over the years, over half of them still borrow from loan sharks or “five-six” lenders. These lenders often charge high interest rates, making it harder for borrowers to get out of debt.

GCash is addressing this issue through its lending arm, Fuse, offering a variety of loan products, including GLoan, GCredit, GGives, GLoan Sakto, and Borrow Load. Since its launch, GCash has disbursed over Php155 billion in loans to more than 5.4 million Filipinos, including small business owners such as sari-sari store operators and market vendors. As a result, nearly 9 out of 10 GCash borrowers have shifted from informal lending to digital options.

To make the lending system easier, GCash uses AI to assess loan eligibility in a way that doesn’t rely on traditional factors like documentation or collateral, which most traditional lenders require. Through the app’s scoring technology, which analyzes users’ transaction history within the app, GCash creates a personalized trust score based on millions of past transactions, giving a new segment of Filipinos their first access to formal credit.

GCash also enables a fully digital loan collection process, allowing its users to pay for their loans anywhere, anytime, for as long as they can access the app. GCash also utilizes a smart auto-debit arrangement to help customers avoid non-payment or unintentionally incurring late penalty charges and additional fees. Further simplifying collections, Fuse introduced a human-like conversational Voice AI or VoiceBot called Gina, which engages lending clients at scale. Gina more than doubles the collection team’s calling capacity and has been able to help debtors catch up on missed payments.

“GCash through its lending arm, Fuse is grounded by these principles: fair and flexible loans, ethical collection, and lending at scale,” Isidro said. “Millions of Filipinos were able to gain access to these thanks to GCash, and through AI, we hope to unlock even more possibilities for digital financial inclusion in the Philippines, in the vision of Finance for All.”