United Bank of Africa Plc has rolled out an audacious but “prudent” machine-lending programme, which promises to scale up competition in the technology-driven lending space.

With its new template, the bank is looking at increasing the share of the consumer segment in the total credit portfolio beyond the current 25 per cent and expanding its hold in mortgage, auto, SME and insurance premium lending.

Its new credit programme is being pursued under a mandate to reset the bank’s credit philosophy and leverage smart lending to stimulate Nigeria’s economic growth and impact people’s lives, the Group Head, Consumer Lending, Anant Rao, told journalists yesterday during a virtual meeting.

Rao said artificial intelligence (AI) and big data would play a major role in the implementation of the emerging lending template, from processing, risk profiling, collection to recovery.

He stressed that credit to an individual with low risk would be priced lower than others with high risk when the programme takes full effect and that the application of the technology would lead to a lower interest rate in the long run.

A mass roll-out of credit and secured cards, he said, would be central to the new credit philosophy, adding that the bank “will be using credit cards to track transaction patterns and consumption/spending behaviours” of its customers.