Financial institutions have for long known the value of credit scoring models in their ability to provide faster credit decisions at lower costs and increase profits by selecting more good customers and leaving out the not so goods. However, the journey to ‘standalone decision making scorecards’ is generally a long one, with most financial institutions suffering from a lack of data at the point of starting the development exercise. The traditional method of building credit scorecards in such situations is to start either with an expert or hybrid model and then nurse it over months and years before it becomes ready to be relied on. Therefore, more than 85% of credit scorecard projects in the developing world are classified as ‘Not met expectations’.    

Join Raja Debnath, Global SME Banking Advisory Specialist, and Syed Abdul Momen, Head of SME, BRAC Bank, as they discuss how financial institutions can develop ‘standalone decision making credit scorecards’ in such an environment where they start with poor data. Momen will share BRAC Bank’s experience of developing such a scorecard in partnership with IFC - the outcome, the challenges and learning from this exercise. 

About the speakers

Raja Debnath is the Global SME Banking Advisory Services Specialist at the  International Finance Corporation (IFC). He provides technical expertise to financial institutions across SME Banking strategy, credit, risk, and product design. He provides thought leadership across multiple SME banking niches - supply chain finance, non-financial advisory services and digital finance for SME banking. He has over 18 years of international banking and advisory experience with financial institutions in the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe. 

Syed Abdul Momen is the Head of SME Banking at BRAC Bank. He joined BRAC Bank in August 2005 and has been instrumental in making BRAC Bank the undisputed leader in the small business lending space in Bangladesh. He has over 18 years of multifaceted experience in the Banking Sector across Technology, Operations and Business Functions.

Registration link has been shared with SME Finance Forum members via email and the Members App. If you are a member of the SME Finance Forum and would like to attend the webinar, contact Farah Siddique fsiddique@ifc.org.