Yaacov Martin, CEO at The Jifiti Group chats about the latest fintech trends while discussing more on how loan management cycles are evolving with new age tech:
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Hi Yaacov, tell us about Jifiti and how the platform has evolved over the years?
Jifiti was founded by me, Shaul Weisband (CMO) and Meir Dudai (CTO) in 2011, initially as an online gift registry solution provider. A substantial part of our technology involved solving the point-of-sale integration challenge, as a merchant’s point-of-sale system has always been difficult to integrate with. We now had this technology that could be scaled across a broad spectrum of use cases that required point-of-sale integration. We saw the tremendous potential in the point-of-sale financing space and, having worked closely with both banks and merchants, we realized that our technology could be a game-changer in building bridges between the two. Jifiti expanded into the fintech industry and today we are one of the world’s leading white-labeled embedded lending technology providers, working with some of the leading banks and merchant brands globally.
How are lending solutions today changing the lending game within the global fintech landscape?
Lending within the global fintech landscape originally belonged to alternative, digital lenders for loan-type products and to BNPL fintechs, for split pay products. Now, due to many factors including economic pressure, interest-rate hikes and regulatory scrutiny, the market has shifted to banks and regulated lenders, with consumers showing an increasing preference for bank financial products at the point of sale. White-labeled embedded lending solutions are making this possible, giving banks the ability to make their loans easily and instantly accessible to customers at the point of sale.
Can you talk about the recent AI enhancements in this field that are shaping new lending workflows?
AI advancements have the potential to shape lending by automating workflows, enhancing risk assessment, decisioning and underwriting, and personalizing user experiences.
Borrowers can already receive personalized loan recommendations and customer service through generative AI-automated chatbots. AI has the capability to analyze credit risk faster and more accurately, using much broader data parameters and learned patterns, therefore enabling lenders to make more informed credit assessments and decision making that result in better outcomes for the lender and the customer. However, the industry isn’t quite there yet when it comes to risk assessment and underwriting. as there are many considerations, particularly regarding how AI in lending would be regulated and whether or not it would reduce or increase bias in underwriting.
Read More : Navigating the Future: Key IT Trends in Financial Services
Why should banks and merchants today invest in better loan management systems?
Banks and merchants require a loan management system that communicates with today’s predominant consumer loan origination channel – the point of sale. There is a need for a loan management system with the capabilities required to seamlessly manage and service the unique nature of a point-of-sale financial product. The good news for banks is that they don’t need to invest in a new loan management system or even in changing their existing one to support their point-of-sale products, as today’s technology provides flexibility and supplementary capabilities.
What are some of the biggest drawbacks in current loan management cycles you’d like to highlight?
The major issues with current systems are:
Rigidity – We’ve found that it is painfully difficult to adjust and customize loan management systems to fit the specific needs of loan models that are not “out-of-the-box”. In the world of Embedded Lending, where the goal is to bring the loan offering to the customer (as opposed to having the customer venture out to their bank), it is important to achieve a certain level of flexibility and agility.
Time to Market – LMS platforms, particularly legacy systems, often require extensive setup, configuration, and integration with other systems (such as core banking or CRM software). This complexity slows down the time to market, thereby delaying the lender’s response to new opportunities in a world where they are competing against swift and agile fintech companies.
Reporting – Current loan management systems often have limitations in their reporting capabilities, which can pose challenges to lenders and financial institutions that require them. Many LMS platforms don’t provide customized reporting, limiting the lender to standard reporting templates that may not cover all data points required by the lender.
Then there are the challenges posed by multi-source data. LMS platforms often don’t have the capability to seamlessly integrate data from different sources, which can lead to inconsistencies and outdated information. Legacy LMS systems also typically struggle with real-time updates. Rather, they update data at set intervals or time frames, which can hinder the lender’s ability to take data-driven action based on accurate, up-to-date data. Another issue is in the presentation of the data. Many LMS platforms provide unintuitive reports, making it difficult for the lender to see the big picture, identify trends and make data-driven decisions.
Can you share five of the most unique loan management initiatives you’ve come across from the global fintech landscape before we wrap up?
One such unique initiative we’ve experienced is in the case where a global brand was looking to offer a loan program in various markets backed by different local financial institutions. With a flexible loan management system, the brand gained the ability to support this, while delivering a consistent user experience.
Read More : Global Fintech Series Interview with Tanya Thomas, EVP for EMEA, Q4
[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]
Jifiti is a leading fintech company that powers white-labeled embedded lending solutions for banks, lenders and merchants worldwide. The company’s white-labeled platform provides banks and lenders with state-of-the-art technology to easily deploy and scale any consumer and business financing program at any merchant’s point of sale – online, in-store and via call center. The platform supports every loan and BNPL option, including installment loans, lines of credit, split payments and business financing. With its multinational presence, Jifiti provides end-to-end point-of-sale financing solutions to global brands in any international market. Jifiti is utilized by leading financial institutions including Mastercard, Citizens Bank, CaixaBank, Credit Agricole, financial service providers including FIS and Finastra, and top retail brands including IKEA, Peloton, Wyndham, Trek, Coppel and others worldwide.
Yaacov Martin, is CEO of The Jifiti Group
