Permanent TSB and Experian join forces to improve Permanent TSB’s Irish lending process

Experian will provide Permanent TSB with its Categorisation as a Service (CaaS) software to make the bank’s lending process faster and more accurate.

Irish personal finance provider Permanent TSB has teamed up with Experian to improve its customers’ lending journeys.

Now, when a customer applies for a loan with Permanent TSB, Experian’s Categorisation as a service (CaaS) technology will help paint a full picture of a person’s finances.

Permanent TSB will then be able to decrease its decisioning time and make a more accurate lending decision.

The technology powering the service is from Castlight, a business which was acquired by Experian in 2019.

Martin Hagerty, chairman of Castlight Financial, an Experian subsidiary, said: “Financial providers have always sought to understand a person’s track record, their willingness to pay and their ability to pay. For many years, credit bureau data has helped answer two of these questions and now this service will help lenders to truly understand affordability.” 

“Categorising income and expenditure will allow lenders to see whether a person’s income is stable or indeed has fallen significantly, or if their burden of non-discretionary spending is beginning to become a problem for them.” 

The service will also work across other Permanent TSB products, including personal financial management, which will help customers improve their financial wellbeing by giving them a comprehensive view of their finances. 

Mike Frawley, chief risk officer at Permanent TSB, said: “This partnership with Experian builds on the bank’s digital focus, offers our customers quicker response times and enhances our automated lending journeys.”

As well as providing software to other financial institutions, Experian claims to be one of the largest providers of open banking in the UK, processing over 50m API calls every month through its open data platform. 

The fintech was also the first Credit Referencing Agency (CRA) to be awarded an open banking licence back in June 2018, just six months after the implementation of PSD2.