We are Periculum; Why we do what we do

There is a dreamer in every one of us; we all have hopes, goals and aspirations. We want to do great things that leave our footprints on the sands of time and more often than we’d like, we all need a little push or support; mostly financial to make them come true.

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According to Highly acclaimed economists on Bloomberg, the biggest danger to the global economy in 2022 will not be the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, it would be high inflation. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the inflation rate for 2020 was 3.22%, a 0.49% increase from 2019.

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Nigeria's inflation rate jumped to 15.92% in March 2022, up from 15.70% in February in a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). With an increase in inflation rate & the decline in the value of money, individuals, entrepreneurs and companies are finding it difficult to get value for their cash as continuous increase in prices threaten and limit purchasing power. In a world where needs must be met irrespective of the current situations, people have no choice but to resort to the use of credit to meet if not all, but most of their financial needs.

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According to Nairametrics, of Nigeria’s 200 million population, research shows that 73.2 million adults representing 41.6% of the adult population in Nigeria are financially excluded. 7 in 10 customers lack access to credit and less than 1/3 of Nigeria's MSMEs have successfully obtained a loan from a financial institution.

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The World Bank estimates that an additional one million people were pushed into poverty in Nigeria between June and November 2021, resulting in a total of about 8 million people being relinquished to poverty in 2021, bringing Nigeria’s poverty headcount to about 91 million.  

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With people desperately in need of credit solutions to hedge against poverty & inflation, these statistics, though alarming, highlight the need for accessible, reliable, and convenient credit solutions. This is important because the Nigerian economy will not grow if people do not have access to credit.

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Lack of a unified source of data, no customer insights, inadequate collateral, no credit history, and a high rate of non-performing loans (as high as 50% in some countries) are some of the major impediments to credit in Africa. These factors greatly affect the ability of financial institutions, digital banks, and other digital lenders to give credit to those who need it thus leading to a huge credit deficit.

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With a $350 billion credit gap in Africa, opportunities abound for the credit industry, and this is where Periculum comes in. At Periculum, we are on a mission to bridge this credit gap by leveraging machine learning techniques and data-driven analytics to empower financial institutions to make better & faster credit decisions thus promoting financial equality & inclusion.

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Understanding the aforementioned challenges being faced in Africa, we developed Insights; the consolidated & automated financial data analytics tool to provide ease of access & a unified source for customers’ analyzed financial data. Insights also leverages alternative financial data to quicken the credit decision process. You can access customers’ financial data in real-time over several financial institutions, analyze it and generate a single financial report to predict the financial health and status of an applicant.

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What does this mean for Financial Institutions & Lenders?

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1. Faster & Better lending decisions- With access to more accurate & predictive data, the credit decision process is faster with a lower level of risk.
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2. Real-time analysis- Lenders can analyze user permission data of their customers & get results in real-time.
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3. Ease & Convenience- With a unified report generated by Insights, lenders can find all the data they need in making a decision in one spot.
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4. Fraud Detection- Lenders can quickly identify individuals whose accounts have been flagged for suspicious or illegal activity.

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What does this mean for borrowers?

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1. More access to credit- With our data-driven solutions, everyone (especially those in the underserved borrower segments) has a chance to enjoy better credit facilities that foster financial inclusion.

2. Know Financial health before loan application- Private individuals or business owners can also use Insights to understand their financial health better before proceeding to apply for a loan.

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Our solutions serve the different market verticals ranging from Commercial banks to Agency banks, Microfinance institutions, Payment service providers, Personal Finance applications, Digital lenders, Buy Now Pay Later Companies (BNPL), etc. as we provide a more conducive environment to access credit facilities across Africa.

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We are Periculum and we are here to serve you!

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