BalanceHero, 2nd Place in International Financial Data Science Competition

Hosted by Zindi, a Data Scientist Network Covering 195 Countries
Over 1,000 Participants from Around the World

BalanceHero, a Korean fintech company that has entered the Indian market, announced on the 5th that it won 2nd place in the international financial data science competition hosted by the global data science network Zindi.

Last January, BalanceHero participated in Zindi’s "Africa Credit Data Model Development Competition," taking on the challenge of building an AI ML (machine learning) credit evaluation model applicable to both Kenya and Ghana, and secured 2nd place. Over 1,000 data scientists from around the world actually participated in developing the models, with BalanceHero’s data scientist Hyunwoo Jeon (participant name bentley) taking part.

Zindi is a network of data scientists from more than 195 countries that continuously holds competitions focused on solving real-world problems through data. This particular competition aimed to develop a generalized model capable of predicting loan default probabilities in developing countries where credit evaluation is difficult.

BalanceHero explained that this award is a case proving that the Alternative Credit Scoring system (ACS), whose business viability has already been verified in India, is objectively excellent even among international data experts. ACS is a system developed by analyzing users’ smartphone data and BalanceHero’s accumulated user data. This system recommends and matches optimized loan products to users, increasing loan approval rates by more than 10 times compared to traditional screening systems, while reducing risk by up to 40%. Through ACS, BalanceHero recorded sales of 84.5 billion KRW and operating profit of 16 billion KRW in India as of 2023.

Hyunwoo Jeon, data scientist at BalanceHero, said, "The ACS methodology proven in India, which belongs to the South Asia region, indirectly shows that it works well even in a completely different region like Africa."

Cheolwon Lee, CEO of BalanceHero, said, "This award proves that our data analysis and AI technology are world-class," adding, "We will continue to provide better services in the Indian financial market through ongoing technological innovation."