Expert advocates ‘Personal Equity’ model to improve credit access

By Chinenye Anuforo

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mathesis Analytics, Winston Osuchukwu, has called for the adoption of a “Personal Equity” framework to improve credit risk assessment and expand access to finance for millions of Nigerians.

Osuchukwu argued that Nigeria’s current credit assessment system relies heavily on fragmented borrower information held by individual financial institutions, resulting in many creditworthy individuals being either excluded from lending opportunities or charged higher borrowing costs.

According to him, Personal Equity represents a comprehensive measure of an individual’s financial behaviour, aggregating data from multiple financial relationships to create a more accurate and portable assessment of creditworthiness.

He noted that many borrowers maintain positive financial records across various institutions, including banks, microfinance institutions, fintech platforms and buy-now-pay-later providers, but often fail to benefit from such histories because the information is not adequately shared across the financial ecosystem.

“The borrower is frequently priced based on limited information rather than actual risk, leading to higher borrowing costs and restricted access to credit,” he said.

Osuchukwu explained that while the Credit Reporting Act 2017 and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s credit bureau framework were designed to improve information sharing, challenges remain due to inconsistent reporting practices and limited sharing of positive behavioural data.

He further stated that the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023 reinforces the principle that individuals should derive value from financial data generated through their own activities.

According to him, Personal Equity seeks to make such data commercially meaningful and portable, enabling borrowers to leverage their financial behaviour across institutions.

Osuchukwu disclosed that Mathesis Analytics has developed a technology platform capable of integrating with financial institutions and aggregating behavioural signals from multiple sources, including banking activities, telecommunications usage and utility payment records.

He said the platform has already scored more than 40 million individuals and supported over $272 million in credit disbursements across Nigeria.

The financial technology expert maintained that a more comprehensive approach to credit assessment would help reduce information asymmetry in the financial system, improve lending decisions and support broader financial inclusion objectives.

He added that the concept aligns with ongoing efforts by regulators to expand access to formal financial services and increase credit availability for underserved populations.

Osuchukwu stressed that advances in technology, data infrastructure and regulatory frameworks have created an opportunity to transform credit assessment in Nigeria, provided stakeholders across the financial ecosystem embrace greater collaboration and data-sharing practices.