Some 74% of CIMB’s loan clients are first time borrowers — survey

NEARLY three in four or 74% of CIMB Bank Philippines’ personal loan clients are first time borrowers, its survey conducted in December showed.

CIMB Bank Philippines Chief Executive Officer Vijay Manoharan said the long evaluation process for credit underwriting is among factors that hinder borrowers from getting loans for urgent needs.

“One of the biggest barriers to formal credit is the application itself. Banks would usually ask for a lot of income and supporting documents, which Filipinos working in the informal sectors may not necessarily have,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

To respond to this, CIMB started offering their REVI Credit and Buy Now Pay Later products via online applications processed in less than five minutes. For preselected users eligible to access the product, submitting income-related documents is not required anymore as the bank uses an alternative credit scoring process.