MikroCredit introduces non-real-time customer ID

Zoltán Sárközi, CEO of MikroCredit (standing)

The newest player on the Hungarian lending market, MikroCredit first appeared with a completely online process - from application to disbursement - with small loans between HUF 25,000 and HUF 300,000. The company says the MiniLoan product fills a gap on the domestic personal loan market where other companies had not offered alternatives for a long time.

“On the European market, banks and credit institutions are lagging behind in real digital transformation compared to other countries in Europe or America,” says MikroCredit CEO Zoltán Sárközi. “Not long ago in Hungary, we took out loans the same way we did 20 years ago. Consumer habits and expectations have changed, however; the younger generation almost expects to be able to handle their affairs including their finances online, anytime, anywhere, and most importantly, very quickly.”

“We ourselves have found that our customers request loans during any part of the day,” Sárközi continues. “As a Fintech market player, our processes and technological background have to adapt to market opportunities as quickly as possible. The decree on non-real-time client identification was published in December 2018, and we have already launched selfie-based client identification, which can be done anywhere, making taking out loans online even faster.”

MikroCredit provides a unique electronic signature in the region, without mandatory external devices or application download. Instead, just a few clicks with the built-in browser and an advanced electronic signature can be used to secure the credit agreement.

According to Sárközi, loans requested on weekday nights may appear on the clientʼs account at 8 a.m. the next day, while weekend requests may be accepted by 8 a.m. Monday, if the client requests the “express” service. He added that the company had been planning for the July 1 introduction of the instant payment system, but this has been postponed for eight months. Even so, MikroCredit will be ready with its new MiniLoan system as soon as possible after instant transfers come into effect, transferring loans 24 hours a day within one hour.

Facial recognition solution

A unique solution by the companyʼs technology partner TechTeamer is built into FaceKom VideoChat software, the press release explains. It allows comparison of the person in a selfie video and the person on an uploaded ID card photo through facial recognition, made possible with the help of Single Shot MultiBox Detector, one of the most innovative methods known today.

“Great challenges lie ahead for the digitalization of the banking sector,” notes Zsigmond Bodnár, managing director of TechTeamer. “It is obvious that all banks and credit institutions are moving in this direction, but unfortunately many only interpret and use digitalization as a sales channel for existing offline products they want to sell.”

“After almost a decade, MikroCredit has become the first company to newly enter the domestic financial lending market,” he continues. “Its great advantage is that it has built its organization from scratch on online lending, so it can implement the latest technological innovations very quickly.”