Cheryl Woodburn, Country Manager, Canada Kathy Stares, EVP, North America
Current banking/lending landscape: • Canada has the lowest unemployment rate since 1976, and over 400,000 new permanent residents in 2021, meaning lots of people eligible for lending products. These are positive factors to offset the challenges of rising inflation and the increasing cost of goods. • In reaction, lenders are still looking for ways to grow given the current widespread economic uncertainty, while also cutting capital spending. Lenders are using alternative data for more accurate risk assessments, especially with newcomers to the country who may not have robust credit histories. How can financial institutions support their customers? • Lenders need to understand their customers’ historical, current, and near-term financial positions, and know how to support their customers by ensuring payment plans are reasonable (i.e., proper debt servicing). • Financial institutions also need to invest in technology that enables greater visibility, like integrating alternative data sources. New innovations and lending products from fintechs/ banks: • We are already seeing a sharp increase in innovation from banks and fintechs, with product roadmaps advancing 5-10 years in a very short period of time. New innovations include using predictive analytics through alternative data, machine learning and AI. Alternative data can help encourage more financial inclusion, and tech like AI/ML can take into account real-time attributes that inform how customers are going to behave – almost before they do.
4
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software