Rabbit Cash, a joint venture by three major companies, has launched digital lending services to support financial inclusion, targeting both salarymen and freelancers, by using data analytics.
The joint venture was founded in April by BSS Holdings (BSSH), an affiliate of BTS Group Holdings Plc; AEON Thana Sinsap Thailand Plc, which provides retail financial services; and Humanica Plc, a developer of human resources solutions.
It has a registered capital of 800 million baht with another 800 million projected to be added soon.
It hopes the services will ease people's dependence on loan sharks.
"We see a pain point of Thais suffering from high household debt and steep shark loan interest rates but we also see an opportunity that Thais have high adoption of mobile banking and digital usage," said Ratchanee Saensinchai, chief executive of Rabbit Cash.
The Bank of Thailand (BoT) said household debt is 14 trillion baht, 5% of which was from loan sharks.
BTS Group can offer rich alternative data for Rabbit Cash for credit analysis, such as transportation, insurance and purchase of goods and services, while data can also be drawn from other partners with customers' consent.
Users can download the Rabbit Cash app and fill in information with consent to share data. They can get approval for loans as quickly as 5-10 minutes, Ms Ratchanee said.
The company has collaborated with technology partners to design a simplified lending process for consumers including digital identity verification, authentication and real-time money disbursement to any bank account in Thailand.
The company targets 2-3 billion baht in lending in 2022 and 5 billion the following year, said Ms Ratchanee. Non-performing loan ratio is expected to be 3.6%, in line with the industry.
It plans to offer services to the public in the first quarter of 2022 after obtaining lending business licences from the BoT. In the first phase, it will offer nano loans for small business owners along with welfare loans, pay day loans, Buy Now Pay Later products, and other new lending products in the following quarter.
Rabbit Cash recently launched pilot lending services through collaboration with Kerry Express Thailand, an express delivery service operator, and Humanica.
Warawut Natpradith, chief operating officer of Kerry Express Thailand, said the company has a customer base of more than 10 million people with a sizeable number of online sellers and some customers may need access to funding.
The pilot lending service targets 1 million members of Kerry Express Loyalty Club, which includes online sellers who regularly use its parcel delivery service.
Soontorn Dentham, founder and chief executive of Humanica, said his firm has worked with Rabbit Cash to offer loans with lower than market interest rate as part of welfare programmes provided by client companies to employees.
This welfare loan comes with 1.25% interest rate per month and the lending ceiling is capped at 5 times a monthly salary of more than 30,000 baht and 1.5 times for a salary of less than 15,000 baht.
Kazumasa Oshima, executive director and chief financial officer of AEON, indicated it can provide low-cost funding sources to support Rabbit Cash.