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Loan Origination Automation at AEON Credit Service Asia (ACSA)

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Time is money. Customers don’t want to be left waiting and people now expect instantaneous responses to requests and immediate services and solutions. Digital solutions are helping organizations to meet these expectations, with the financial services industry leading the way in delivering efficient digital process automation, while still remaining compliant. Yet 69% of banks are not using any automated credit analysis or decisioning techniques.  

Aeon Credit Service (Asia) Co. (ACSA), is a financial organization that prides itself on customer service and creditworthiness, providing credit cards, loans, and insurance to its customer base in Hong Kong. ACSA wanted to transform their traditional credit card application process, which took two weeks to complete. The aim was to approve credit and print cards in-store so customers could have a new credit card and start spending immediately.  

Here’s how they reduced the time to issue credit cards to customers from weeks to minutes in a secure, compliant manner, using digital process automation.  

Capturing customer information 

56% of bankers say that the manual collection of data and subsequent back and forth with the client is the biggest challenge in initiating the loan process. This comes as no surprise with all the manual work, both collecting and processing the information, when determining if a customer is a good candidate for a loan or credit card,  

For ACSA, if a customer wanted to apply for a credit card, they needed to fill out a paper form and submit it to branch staff. This paper form was shipped back to their headquarters in Hong Kong, and then scanned to ACSA’s data input center, where data input agents would type the details from the paper into their system so they could start the credit judgment and determine what their credit limit could be if they can authorize them the loan. So, the automation project was dubbed “the paperless project for customers”. 

The process has now been automated with all information being entered and reviewed digitally through Bizagi. In-branch, customers now enter their details into a digital form on a tablet, which is sent directly to the staff for credit approval and automatically passed through their rules engine and Credit Bureau TransUnion. Using a tablet has reduced the margin of error when capturing new customer information as there are no doubts over illegible handwriting, and it is easier for staff and the customer to verify that all information is correct before submitting the digital form.  The total amount of time to capture new customers’ information now does not exceed 5 minutes.  

Mapping workflows and automating processes 

There are many boxes that need to be ticked when it comes to approving lines of credit. Financial regulations cannot be ignored, and proper assessment needs to be carried out on the applicant. Mapping out workflows and defining steps within the process is an excellent way to ensure that all necessary tasks are completed. It also provides transparency over the processes, meaning that there is one version of the truth and clarity over the process.  

Fulfilling requirements to obtain credit and loans often means connecting with external systems, such as checking credit scores. Silos will significantly slow down the process and could lead to ambiguity, so it’s important to connect and orchestrate all systems involved. The credit approval process was mapped out in Bizagi Modeler and automated in Bizagi Studio. ACSA’s credit approval process was integrated with several key systems used by AEON, including their core system to store all loan customer information, a rules engine that provides recommended credit limits, the Credit Bureau TransUnion in Hong Kong for credit scoring and their NetMember membership portal which allows customers to view their e-statements and latest updates.  

Introducing automation to the workflow then helps to ensure compliance as it standardizes the process and means that the next step will not begin until the previous one has been completed, guaranteeing that all requirements are met.  

Ensuring efficiency with continuous improvement 

The automated process has saved ACSA a significant amount of time, reducing the credit approval process from two weeks to just 30 minutes. They have combined Bizagi’s automation with in-branch card embossing machines so that customers can get a credit card printed there and then when they walk into a branch or visit booths within ACSA’s sister company’s department stores. This is particularly useful for in-store promotions, e.g. a customer would get a discount on a television if they signed up for a credit card and then used that card when it was processed 30 minutes later to purchase said television.  

ACSA was able to re-use the credit card approval process to open a new channel for ‘no-show’ loans via a mobile app. This most recent process allows unsecured loans to be applied for, decisioned, and fulfilled within minutes. Funds are then transferred directly to the customer’s bank account via Faster Payment System (FPS). 

To save further time, there is a plan that a photo can be taken of the customer’s Hong Kong ID card using optical character recognition (OCR) technology to capture and auto-fill customer information and attach this to their application form. The process is constantly being reviewed to ensure that customers are receiving the best possible experience when applying for their credit cards in-store. 

If you would like to learn more about how Bizagi can help facilitate loan approvals in our blog, Loan Origination: How to Make it Personalized, Compliant and Connected, or get in touch with the Bizagi team to see how they can help you accelerate your approval process.