Trust Stamp is teaming up with VIVA Finance in an effort to help raise financial inclusion. VIVA is the developer of a mobile lending platform that screens applicants based on their employment history instead of a more traditional credit score.
In doing so, VIVA is trying to ensure that people with weak credit histories are still able to participate in the modern financial ecosystem, and can gain access to tools that will allow them to grow their wealth. The company noted that the criteria for the existing credit check system are at once opaque and needlessly intrusive, and can unfairly punish people for past circumstances that do not accurately reflect their reliability or their current financial state.
The goal is to provide more people with safe and affordable credit alternatives to the predatory solutions that are often the only ones available to ‘thin file’ customers. On that front, Trust Stamp will provide secure identity verification technology to ensure that people are who they say they are, which will in turn help build a foundation of trust to facilitate lending agreements. The company’s platform confirms the authenticity of an identity document, and uses facial biometrics to match the image on that document to a selfie of the user during onboarding.
“VIVA’s work highlights the need for equitable services and greater consumer choice even in highly developed economies,” said Trust Stamp CCO Kinny Chan. “The integration of Trust Stamp’s secure solutions for establishing trust is an important factor in the multifaceted effort to empower all individuals with financial opportunity.”
“This partnership will allow us to prevent bad actors from utilizing our application in a way that does not adversely affect honest people who may have thin credit files or no prior credit history,” added VIVA CEO and Co-Founder Jack Markwalter.
The news comes shortly after the release of Trust Stamp’s new low-code integration platform, which makes the company’s identity technology easier to deploy. The company made its Nasdaq debut earlier in the year, and established a new subsidiary in Rwanda in 2021.
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