EU - Astonishing Social Media Check Before Bank Loan

Want to borrow money? In the EU, bankers stopped looking at your credit history alone a long time ago apparently.

Banks are interested in the personality of their customers. Smart algorithms create risk profiles and scores through online personality tests. Too much self-confidence: down one point. Said or liked something extreme on social media, down one point…

The Dutch company AdviceRobo, which has developed software already being used in 10 EU countries, takes it one step further and screens your social media accounts and search histories.

Related coverage: Canada – Outrage Over Government’s Banking Data Access Grows (Video).

The technology fits into a trend in which algorithms penetrate ever deeper into people's daily lives.

According to Mr. Diederick van Thiel, director of AdviceRobo, this kind of evolution is absolutely normal: “Last year, a total of one million EU consumers received banking advice with the help of our algorithms. That number is set to double this year.”

Results of questionnaires, social media and surfing behavior draw up so-called psychometric models. These are then combined with the credit history of the new customer, if available.

Mr. Van Thiel: “We want to gain insight into who you really are. What drives people. Can you put your money aside and buy that expensive car? "

AdviceRobo, in which global financial service provider KPMG recently took a stake, is interested, for example, in the self-confidence of a new customer. “Too much self-confidence is not good, because those people take too many risks. But too little is not liked either.”

Diederick van Thiel, directeur van AdviceRobo:
“We willen inzicht krijgen in wie je echt bent. Wat mensen drijft. Kan je geld opzij zetten of koop je bij het eerste succesje gelijk een dure auto”https://t.co/i0Brn7EQ1A#ArtificialInteligence #BigData

— FrankSmilda (@FrankSmilda) November 24, 2018

Artificial intelligence has long been used to analyze questionnaire results by banks.

.@KPMG takes stake in credit scorer @AdviceRobo_: https://t.co/uR96QhO9uI #fintech #AI #lending #lendtech pic.twitter.com/aPPIRNxuX5

— FinTech Futures (@FinTech_Futures) September 18, 2018

The fact that Twitter and Facebook are also being looked at is a new development.

“But it is perfectly logical,” says Mr. Van Thiel: "The more data you have, the better you can predict how someone will react. What do people look for, what language they use, how impulsively they respond: our software AdviceRobo pays attention to all this kind of stuff. Potential customers who try to get a loan from their bank must give permission for a flotation of their online behavior during a so-called digital intake.”

AdviceRobo company: "Wouldn't you like to know more about the creditworthiness of your applicants & customers?.. We specialize in applying psychographics combined with financial & other behavioural data to create rich insights that can be applied in your decisions & processes."

— Frederik Borgesius (@fborgesius) November 24, 2018

AdviceRobo is already active in ten EU countries. In the Netherlands, three banks use the assessment algorithms: Volksbank, SNS and Regio Bank.

Source:

volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/geld-lenen-dan-worden-eerst-je-social-media-accounts-gescreend~b53b4a36

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