By Adedapo Adesanya
Periculum, a Canadian financial tech company, has opened operations in Nigeria to expand the credit market.
According to the company the availability of credit in the country is crucial for sustainable economic growth in developing countries. The Nigerian credit market is smaller than similar countries of the same size. Therefore, the company is trying to close this gap.
For context, Nigeria’s credit to the private sector is approximately 12 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This is lower than South Africa’s 129% and Malaysia’s 134%.
The company pointed out that these countries have high credit ratios to the private sectors, which has helped to boost real sector growth, create innovative opportunities for technology-enabled companies, accelerate financial development, ensure efficient functioning of the economy, and ensure the prosperity of this sector.
The startup from Canada will be focusing on financial inclusion in emerging countries, with the goal of creating this in Nigeria. It will use automated credit assessment tools to close the gap in consumer credit and help financial institutions provide credit facilities for the financially excluded.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Michael Temitope Collins, Periculums founder and Chief Executive Officer, said “Africa needs domestic credit to stimulate real economic growth. This does not mean bank-to business credit. It can also include digital lending for short term credit. Buy Now, Pay Later schemes.”
Tech-enabled credit assessments infrastructures have limited the quality and quantity lending. This may explain the high risk premiums borrowers must pay and the harassment practiced by predatory lenders in Nigeria. Periculum will change this.
We are a leader in data analytics and credit assessments services, specifically targeting underserved market segments. Our customers can reduce the time it takes to process loan applications and loan default rates. We also offer loans to unbanked consumers and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
He said that financial institutions can increase credit to those who are in need of credit by using reliable, tech-enabled credit assessments services.
The company also announced the appointment Mr Damilola aluede as Managing Director to help accelerate its business in Nigeria.
Collins added that the current services and product roadmap include credit model development and financial data analysis. We can help our customers with solutions such as fraud detection, insights for lenders based on customer segmentation and customer lifecycle value, insights to retailers and ATM operators, and several other benefits.”
Techstars accepted Periculum in 2021. It is part of the 2021 Techstars Montral AI class, as well the Founder Institutes select portfolio. Periculum raised $620,000 in pre-seed funding in October 2021 to expand its team, improve product design, and scale its operations in Nigeria, and other markets.
The company currently provides services to customers in Canada, Nigeria, and plans to expand to Ghana and Kenya before the end 2022.
Periculum was established in 2019. It helps banking and lending customers to identify fraud risk and assess creditworthiness.
Customers of Periculums have the ability to quickly collect and analyze data from borrowers and give credit scores. This can lead to real financial inclusion in Nigeria and other countries.
Periculum offers data aggregation platforms and APIs that aggregate data from partners, including open banking APIs. This allows prospective borrowers and other entities to have complete financial and data profiles.
