A large retail bank wanted to reward engaged shoppers with better lending decisions and expand credit access. In the UK, the goal was to improve the accuracy of credit risk assessment. In Asia, the focus was on financial inclusion, enabling highly engaged shoppers without credit footprints to access mainstream lending. Optima supported the bank by applying advanced machine learning and credit models to deliver fairer, more effective lending strategies.
Context:
A large retail bank faced two challenges: identifying engaged shoppers in the UK who were unfairly declined for credit, and expanding financial inclusion in Asia for customers with no formal credit history.
Existing processes lacked the sophistication to distinguish risk accurately, limiting both loyalty and growth potential.
Outcome:
In the UK: the solution identified 10–12% of marginal declines who could be safely granted credit. Amongst accepted applicants, improved risk assessment identified an additional 7% uptake due to better-priced offers.
In Asia: a pilot programme targeting highly engaged shoppers extended lending to an additional 20% of customers beyond the BAU cross-sell strategy.
The work was recognised externally and presented at the Credit Scoring & Credit Control Conference XVII at Edinburgh University.
What we delivered:
Developed data, analytical and decisioning capabilities to augment credit and affordability assessments
In the UK: improved accuracy of credit risk assessment at the margin by combining retail data with advanced machine learning, ensuring decisions were fair and bias-free
In Asia: built credit risk and affordability models leveraging shopping data, supporting a personalised engagement strategy for under-served customers
Led projects end-to-end, covering data engineering, predictive modelling, strategy design, and orchestration
Testimonial:
“By combining retail and financial data with advanced modelling, we enabled the client to make fairer credit decisions, reward loyal shoppers, and expand access to under-served customers.”
— Chief Data Scientist, Optima Partners
