ADVANCE.AI signed an agreement with state-owned Credit Information Corporation to become a new credit bureau in the Philippines, the company said on 13 August 2024 from Manila.
Operations were targeted to commence in the fourth quarter of 2024, with a primary audience of fintechs, digital banks and thrift banks. CIC had earlier granted ADVANCE.AI a Special Accessing Entity licence after an open month-long tender initiated in September 2023, with a CIC technical working group evaluating financial resources, technical expertise and reputation. Ben Joshua A. Baltazar, CIC president and chief executive, said the deal aims to create a more inclusive financial ecosystem with better credit reporting and scoring services, increase competition and innovation in credit data access for lenders and borrowers, and align with CIC's financial-inclusion mandate — including encouraging non-bank lenders to use SAE services and enabling MSMEs and individual borrowers to access their credit reports.
ADVANCE.AI described itself as a Southeast Asia provider of digital identity verification, KYC and KYB and risk management. The Philippine credit bureau business is led by Dennis Martin, previously group chief executive of CTOS Digital and managing director of Experian Southeast Asia. The agreement precedes the October 2024 Archipelago US$4 million seed that funds launch operations and should be read as the regulatory and partnership foundation for that funding card. Timing of commercial go-live beyond the company's Q4 2024 target has not been independently verified by AI-360.