Credit Intelligence to bring AI-based financial management and buy now, pay later to SMEs
Leading debt restructuring and personal insolvency management services business Credit Intelligence Limited (ASX:CI1) (CI1) announce a partnership with the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) to enhance the AI capabilities of its leading fintech platform YOZO, and technological advancements in CI1’s other areas of business expansion such as ethical debt collection, debt restructuring and debt factoring in Asia and Australia.
Credit Intelligence and the recently-acquired YOZO business will work with UTS to revolutionise the financial management industry for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and introduce responsible buy now, pay later services to SME customers.
The partnership will see Credit Intelligence and YOZO create a one-stop-shop for all SME finance needs and promote ethical lending, responsible borrowing and ethical debt collection and debt restructuring.
Enhanced Yozo features
Built in collaboration with Professor Guandong Xu, a Professor in Data Science and leader of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute at UTS, YOZO was developed in 2019 as a 24-7 self-service intuitive AI engine. It is designed for small business owners to provide anytime access to financial tools and calculators to better understand their business’ financial position and potential borrowing capacity.
As previously announced, CI1 purchased a 60 per cent interest in YOZO in December 2020 for a total consideration of $1.38 million (50% paid in cash and 50% in CI1 shares at $0.025 per share).
CI1 is now partnering with UTS to enhance the features of the YOZO platform to encompass ethical lending, responsible borrowing, and BNPL for SMEs.
The enhanced YOZO features will include:
SME BNPL (Yozo Pay): One size does not fit all and every business/industry is different. The YOZO AI system will connect to an SMEs online banking and accounting software and use machine learning to analyse and recommend tailor-made BNPL repayment solutions for the SME to choose from. Factors like the terms of the facility and repayment frequency will be considered on a personalised basis to ensure the solution is the best fit for each individual business. By using YOZO, the SMEs borrowing limit will increase over time without going through a lengthy reapplication process. The platform will have 24/7 access to the SME without any delays to ensure the SME can focus more resources on running its business and spend less time on financing.
YOZO health check: When YOZO connects to an SME’s electronic banking and accounting software, the AI system can learn payment schedules and trends and alert the SME of upcoming payments, late payments, and dishonours, and provide automatic advice to the SME if there are upcoming debits for which the business does not have sufficient funds. By running the YOZO health check, the SME would have all their accounts and financial information on display in a user-friendly, centralised Dashboard where the SME can continuously monitor and react to any unforeseen events.
YOZO member: The AI-driven YOZO platform can automatically calculate an SME’s expenses such as utilities, telecommunication, office expenses, and insurance. Machine learning then finds better deals and recommends discounts to the SME based on individual needs and payment schedules. As YOZO will work with other industry partners, SMEs can benefit from being connected to other YOZO members to compare pricing and find the best deals for all their business expenses.
YOZO marketplace: SMEs often need support in more areas than just funding. The enhanced YOZO platform will offer SMEs the opportunity to join the YOZO marketplace where they can connect to other SMEs and promote their services and their business. This will give more exposure to SMEs and allow for easy collaboration with like-minded businesses. Each SME can provide a service rating for their experience working with other SMEs on the marketplace.
By enhancing the features of the YOZO platform, Credit Intelligence is positioning as an ethical lender encouraging responsible borrowing from SMEs.
Jimmie Wong, Executive Chairman of CI1, said, “CI1 looks forward to continuing to increase our involvement with UTS University Sydney in order to technologically revolutionise BNPL for SMEs, ethical debt collection and debt restructuring for SMEs and individuals. To the best of our knowledge we are the only BNPL or debt collection/ restructuring company on the ASX to be pursuing technical collaboration with a major university.”
