Across much of the developing world, credit remains the final frontier of financial inclusion. While mobile wallets and digital payments have scaled rapidly, formal credit access still eludes millions of consumers and small businesses.

According to the World Bank, around 1.3 billion adults remain unbanked. In Southeast Asia, a Bain & Co study revealed that eight out of 10 SMEs need financing, yet they do not have access to affordable credit.

The reason is simple yet systemic: legacy credit systems are built for a different era.

Traditional credit systems and scoring models fail to capture the realities of modern financial life, from gig work to micro-entrepreneurship. As a result, creditworthy individuals and enterprises remain invisible to lenders, and financial institutions grapple with how to serve these segments profitably and responsibly.

This is where credit tech emerges as the solution, one that combines AI, alternative data, and automated risk intelligence to build the digital infrastructure that powers inclusive lending at scale.

Among the pioneers leading this shift is FinVolution Group (FinVolution). Established in 2007, the New York Stock Exchange-listed fintech has spent nearly two decades refining the digital foundation of modern credit systems.

The group has successfully extended its footprint beyond China with localised fintech platforms in Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Its “loan facilitation” model bridges licensed financial institutions and near-prime borrowers, helping lenders reach new customer segments once deemed too costly or risky.

Today, FinVolution connects over 36.6 million users with 134 financial institution partners, with cumulative transactions exceeding US$157 billion.

At the forefront of these initiatives is Lei Chen, Vice President of FinVolution Group, an instrumental figure whose work sits at the intersection of innovation and inclusion, helping financial institutions in emerging markets extend credit safely to those once beyond their reach.

Building the Digital Backbone of Modern Credit

In emerging markets, financial institutions face a dual challenge: reaching underserved borrowers while managing risk and compliance in fast-evolving digital landscapes. FinVolution’s answer is a full-stack, AI-driven credit technology platform that supports the entire lending journey, from acquisition to risk control and customer service.

The group’s foundation in data and automation runs deep. Since launching its first credit scoring and anti-fraud system in 2008 and forming a dedicated AI team in 2016, FinVolution has steadily built one of the most comprehensive digital credit infrastructures in Asia.

Drawing from its experience in China, FinVolution has successfully localised its full-stack digital credit solution across emerging markets, tailoring algorithms and onboarding models to local data realities.

“With nearly two decades of credit tech experience and a replicable operational playbook, we can help them onboard users efficiently, manage risks effectively, and stay fully compliant with local regulations.”

At the core of this ecosystem lies an AI risk engine that analyses borrower profiles in real time, assigning credit lines and pricing decisions within seconds. This intelligence has helped lift the proportion of high-quality borrowers to over 80% of its user base.

Next, at the front end, FinVolution’s in-house marketing platform, Octopus, automates and optimises cross-channel outreach, using AI to generate more than half of all campaign content. By connecting to major advertising APIs such as Ocean Engine, Tencent Ads, and Google, Octopus serves as a unified advertising, strategy, and analytics hub.

It tracks performance across the full customer journey, automatically adjusts targeting strategies, and can create and launch ad materials in batches, based on real-time feedback.

The group’s proprietary chatbot, BLU AI, brings a new dimension of intelligence to customer interaction. Deployed across nearly 40 fintech platforms in seven countries spanning Asia, Latin America, and Africa, it supports seamless communication in five major languages: Chinese, English, Spanish, Bahasa, and Tagalog, alongside multiple Chinese dialects.

With a speech recognition accuracy of 95%, BLU AI now handles more than two million calls every day, enabling real-time, human-like conversations that bridge cultural and linguistic divides. It also further improves fraud detection by analysing linguistic and contextual cues across multiple languages.

“Our edge lies in our technology depth — particularly in fraud control, risk decisioning, and user growth. We complement banks by expanding their reach while keeping risk controllable, building sustainable and mutually reinforcing partnerships.”

Additionally, in the Philippines, FinVolution operates JuanScore, a licensed Special Accessing Entity under the Philippines’ Credit Information Corporation (CIC). JuanScore consolidates credit data covering nearly 70% of the underserved population and supports more than 50 proprietary localised risk control models.

AI-Driven Fraud Control Across Markets

FinVolution’s fraud prevention system draws on behavioural signals, linguistic cues, and contextual data across multiple languages to detect and stop suspicious activity in real time. Lei Chen explained the importance of doing so,

“The rise of generative AI has lowered the barrier to sophisticated fraud — cloned voices, deepfakes, and synthetic identities are becoming common.”

Back in 2023, FinVolution also identified a spike in deepfake-based face swap attacks in its Southeast Asian markets. Fraudsters used manipulated videos to attempt to bypass the KYC systems of its lending platforms.

In response, the group deployed a proprietary detection algorithm that achieved 98% accuracy in flagging these attempts, highlighting how AI innovation is becoming essential to protecting digital lending ecosystems in the region.

In 2024, FinVolution’s AI engine intervened in more than 7,000 suspected cases a day, blocking over 26,000 scam attempts and preventing nearly RMB 370 million (S$67.7 million) in potential losses. It demonstrated how technology can apply data science to deliver measurable, real-world protection for users.

The system is also evolving to counter emerging forms of fraud. Lei Chen added,

“Beyond technology, we actively shape the ecosystem too, hosting two consecutive algorithm competitions on deepfake detection with conferences like IJKAI and CIKM to advance industry-wide innovation.”

Charting FinVolution’s Road to Global Scale by 2030

FinVolution’s experience and scale now position it among the leading credit technology innovators shaping inclusive finance globally.

By 2030, FinVolution aims for half of its revenue to come from international markets, expanding its footprint well beyond Asia into regions where the promise of credit inclusion remains untapped. The group has identified four key trends that will shape this next phase.

Firstly, the next phase of growth will be driven by smarter AI models that tap into alternative data and LLMs to better understand and serve new borrowers. Next, user journeys will become increasingly frictionless, powered by biometric KYC and real-time events.

Thirdly, regulatory agility will play a vital role in ensuring innovation moves in step with strong consumer protection. In line with these factors, there will be a strong demand for inclusive credit, especially in underbanked markets. Lei Chen added,

“We believe collaboration between fintechs, banks, and regulators will accelerate financial inclusion, with fintech players bringing the technology, banks the scale and trust, and regulators ensuring sustainable development.”

FinVolution will be among the featured companies at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2025, where Lei Chen will speak on AI Applications in Credit Finance.

His session at SFF will explore how AI and LLMs are transforming user growth, fraud detection, risk assessment, and intelligent operations, driving greater accuracy, efficiency, and smarter decision-making across consumer finance.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on an image by Juan J. J. Labrador on Freepik