Absa Bank Helps Distressed Africans Keep Their Homes During Pandemic Using FICO Collections Technology
More information: https://www.fico.com/en/solutions/customer-communications-for-debt-collection-and-recovery
"Recently, Absa embarked on a three-year journey to transform its collections estate into the best-in-class in the world," said Sibulelo Ncamani, a change lead in the Collections Transformation Programme at Absa. "We selected FICO as our strategic partner for this journey, focusing mainly on analytics, operations and technology.
"One of the solutions we chose is the FICO Customer Communications Services, which our Home Loans portfolio implemented first. We sought to achieve a digital, omnichannel capability that will enable 24/7 access to our distressed customers to assist in their time of need. This capability was a crucial component to the Absa Home Loans business vision of 'Housing the Nation' and more specifically for Home Loans collections and recoveries."
Improving Communications in Collections
Communications is the key to effective collections, and Absa needed to break down siloed communication channels, create profile-specific communication strategies, and execute real-time processes. Automation was important, as was learning from response and interaction data to see what worked and which channels customers preferred.
FICO® Customer Communication Services (CCS), integrated with FICO® Debt Manager™, enabled Absa to set up different treatment strategies for customers who were at different risk levels and who had different reasons for being in arrears, including:
- Technical arrears, such as delayed inter-bank payments.
- Salary dates that had moved.
- Customers who simply forgot to pay and require a nudge or reminder for payment.
- More severe types of distress such as reduced working hours or even unemployment.
Using FICO CCS's omnichannel capability, Absa sent customers different combinations of static messages, interactive messages and interactive voice recordings, allowing customers to self-pay before being worked by an agent. Customers could also make a payment arrangement without having to talk to an agent.
"We saw fantastic results from our initial trial," said Ncamani. "Removing accounts from the dialler resulted in a 26 percent reduction in call center effort, without a reduction in customers' payment performance. By automating more work, we also saw our team's morale improve, as more meaningful work was provided to agents."
Meeting the COVID-19 Challenge
When
Absa plans to expand FICO CCS to more customer segments as it prepares for any future increase in delinquencies following post-COVID-19 stress. The capacity saving expected from FICO CCS will allow the business to promote agents from pre-legal collections to legal recoveries.
"This will further improve the colleague experience and assist our business in the area that is expected to be under strain for an extended period of time post-COVID-19," said Ncamani. "In addition, we will expand FICO CCS strategies to include automated forbearance offerings and deceased estate management, which are highly manual processes today. And we will use the data generated by CCS to develop interaction models that will allow us to offer the right customer the right solution through the right communication channel."
"Absa Bank kept more customers in their homes during an unprecedented period of anxiety and financial stress," said
"ABSA understands the sensitivity of the collection process and the importance of reaching a customer as quickly as possible," said
FICO® Customer Communication Services, part of FICO's solutions for debt collection and recovery, enables businesses to orchestrate communication strategies with different channel mixes, follow consumers if they switch channels, and measure results in a unified approach across channels. Collections teams can conduct any number of dialogues through online and mobile channels with the efficiency, courtesy, and compliance of their best agents.
About Absa Bank
Absa is one of
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David Dittmann , vice president, Data & Analytics, P&G (2019 winner)- René Javier Guzmán, market & liquidity risks director at Banreservas (2019 winner)
Tomas Klinger , decision science and data director at Home Credit (2019 winner)- Marcel Le Gouais, managing editor at Credit Strategy
Tiffani Montez , banking analyst at AiteLisa Morgan , journalist & analyst at InformationWeekIgnazio Provinzano , head of risk operations at Swisscard (2019 winner)
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Vuyo Jacobs, Britespark Communications, vuyo@britespark.co.za, 010 001 0113