Expression of Interest For Perception And Adoption Of Psychometric Scoring By Lenders And Borrowers In Cote DIvoire And Uemoa

Expression of Interest are invited for Perception and Adoption of Psychometric Scoring by Lenders and Borrowers in Cote Divoire and Uemoa Access to finance is a major constraint to growth for MSMEs in Cote dIvoire, where the financial inclusion rate stands at 43%. The IFC estimates that 57% of MSMEs are credit constrained with the MSME finance gap estimated at $2.36 billion (IFC, 2018). Furthermore, 85.7 percent of loans require collateral that is valued at 157 percent of the loan amount. Women MSMEs, and especially informal traders and business owners, are a particularly vulnerable segment due to the high perceived risk associated with their activity. Financial institutions in Cote dIvoire both commercial banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) are generally reluctant to extend credit to MSMEs as most micro (operating largely informally and on a cash basis) and small business owners do not have land property usually preferred by FIs and no credit profiles, hampering their ability to access credit from FIs. Despite the low supply credit and stringent selection of creditworthy MSMEs based on credit history and available collateral, portfolio quality is deteriorated especially in the MFI sector. This is an indication that traditional creditworthiness assessment methods have not been yielding the desired results and most informal thin-file and low credit profile MSMEs have been excluded from credit on subjective grounds. Digital financial services are largely dominated by the mobile money offerings of local Mobile Network Operators (MNOs); however, banks and traditional financial institutions are gradually innovating in this realm by deploying their own digital platforms. The Government of Cote dIvoire has a clear commitment and strategy for promoting a digital economy agenda in the country (creation of a dedicated Ministry of Digital Economy in 2016). At the same time, the governments ambition is to make microfinance one of the driving forces of financial inclusion to revitalize the economic and financial system of the country. By leveraging technological innovations for creditworthiness assessment, this new momentum could potentially provide an opportunity for millions of excluded entrepreneurs to access finance. Alternative scoring typologies can be developed and their predictivity and use can be extended to unbanked segments of the population through new technologies and data, giving these segments the opportunity to enter the borrowing market. This will result in greater access to financing, with lower interest rates and transaction costs. Introducing innovative alternative data-based scoring tools, such as psychometric scoring could indeed be an opportunity to improve financial inclusion. To that end, IFC has developed a project to roll out a Psychometric Credit Scoring Model in Cote dIvoire, in partnership with the regional credit bureau of UEMOA (CreditInfo West Africa). IFC would like to hire a consulting firm to conduct a study on the perception of psychometric scoring but on the financial services supply side (borrowers, essentially IFCs partner MFIs in Cote dIvoire and Senegal), and on the demand side (MFI clients/borrowers). The study will primarily be held in Cote dIvoire and Senegal, where IFC has been implementing psychometric scoring pilots with local partner MFIs. The objective of the study is to document and disseminate lessons learnt to facilitate further replication of the intervention at the sector level and throughout the UEMOA sub region. The combined lessons learnt from implementing psychometric scoring in Senegal and Cote dIvoire will help the team build the business case for further replication and adoption of psychometric scoring in the entire UEMOA sub-region. Tender Link : https://wbgeprocure-rfxnow.worldbank.org/rfxnow/public/advertisement/5135/view.html

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