Fico, the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology, today announced its entry into Vietnam in partnership with Blitz IT Consultants, one of Southeast Asia's fastest growing IT distribution and service providers.
With an initial focus on the financial services market, the agreement encompasses FICO solutions for fraud detection, loan origination, credit scoring and collections.
Vietnamese banks are under pressure from the central bank to reduce bad debt while simultaneously increasing lending to creditworthy borrowers so as to stimulate the economy. This balancing act will require stronger controls and mechanisms to improve adherence to responsible lending practices and minimize future debt problems. Backed by more than 50 years of experience in analytics-based credit risk management, FICO solutions are well suited to helping banks work through these issues.
"We see tremendous potential in Vietnam for FICO solutions," said Chia Han Meng, CEO of Blitz IT Consultants. "The banks are well aware of the need for predictive analytics in their credit operations, but they have not had the benefit of anything as powerful as FICO's offerings. We are keenly interested in helping banks address risk and compliance issues through technology, and our partnership with the global leader will enable us to excel in this area."
Blitz is a well-established provider of financial technology in Vietnam. As the only partner of the SWIFT wire transfer network in the country since 2005, Blitz has existing relationships with more than 50 Vietnamese banks and securities firms.
"Blitz is definitely the right partner to help introduce FICO technology to Vietnam's banking system at this critical juncture," said Dattu Kompella, vice president and managing director for FICO in Southeast Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand. "Between Blitz's broad market coverage and FICO's advanced analytics, we are well positioned together to help the banks forge a stronger credit culture."
FICO's country manager for Vietnam, Patrick Tan, added: "The Vietnamese banking industry needs to ensure it has in place strong fundamentals going forward, to avoid the challenges faced in manny other countries around the world. Areas such as loan application processes need to have mechanisms like credit scoring to ensure responsible lending, lessen the risk of bad debt, and guarantee that credit-worthy consumers get the credit they need, which also stimulates a healthy economy."