Sector
Microfinance
Regions
Asia Pacific
Global microfinance network VisionFund International (VFI) supports their clients in Asia by helping to pioneer innovative digital solutions and microfinance for areas affected by conflict. And with over 300,000 active borrowers and 148 branches across six countries, their operation is growing – but they needed help to consolidate and gain operational control over multinational financial data.
VFI turned to BankBI for help, and thanks to our integration with award-winning digitalisation partner Musoni and our experience in serving banks and credit unions worldwide, it was a challenge we could overcome.
Our timeline to success graphic details the process we undertake, from gaining an understanding of the scope of the challenge, through to implementation. All of this is achieved with a focus on accuracy and speed to result, aiming to give the client visibility as soon as possible.
The importance of VisionFund’s work in Asia can’t be understated. They work tirelessly to reach underserved communities and provides vital finance assistance across Myanmar.
VisionFund has over 50 branches supporting nearly 200,000 clients in Myanmar alone, with 73% of those clients living under the US$2.50 a day poverty line. Some rural communities in the country are simply unable to reach formal banking services, so VisionFund are bringing them to the people. And Myanmar is just one example of the service VisionFund brings to the APAC region.
The APAC market is rich in diversity. It’s a market that shows remarkable growth, and it’s home to a myriad of cultures, languages, and processes. These markets are expected to play a crucial role in the future development of world capital markets for investment in the future – but all of this comes at a cost.
The melting pot of cultures and languages makes it difficult for multinational financial institutions to consolidate their data. Streamlining processes and unifying operations at the C-Suite and branch level are real challenges for institutions looking to take control of their multi-regional data and get a clear picture. VisionFund struggled with these challenges.
VFI needed help as they struggled with a variety of challenges.
With all of these issues facing them, they knew they needed to consolidate their data in order to achieve greater visibility. To make informed decisions, they needed to change at a systemic level.
“Our need was to have the bigger picture at a grassroots level but also dig down to understand our client base as individuals.”
Tom Allen, VFI Global
Director of Change & Programmes
Unfortunately, VisionFund’s visibility over its data was low. Many of the datasets they needed access to were in remote locations across the network in 19 different core banking systems and 18 different general ledgers. Many processes were still paper-based, and management was only receiving reports every six weeks or so. Something needed to be done to make the entire system more efficient and unify it under one solution.
To change this, VisionFund engaged in a multi-year transformation programme to standardise core banking and financial system platforms across 30 countries, including Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
But the issue facing VisionFund was deeper than just data management, and after reaching out to the ‘obvious’ vendors, they realised their size meant that too formulaic an approach wouldn’t work. With their unique requirements, nothing would happen in the short term by working with a standard vendor.
“It was about being able to address the bigger issue of reorganisation – finding a vendor to help us change the way we work. We knew that we had the data, that it was untapped and that if we could harness it then we would stand a better chance of delivering on our strategy.”
Tom Allen, VFI Global
Director of Change & Programmes
Our core value proposition was a perfect fit. BankBI could provide the visibility VisionFund so desperately needed, but it could also act as a bridge to provide value while reporting solutions are deployed in different regions. BankBI specialises in providing bespoke solutions for financial institutions of any size.
So what was the plan? Initially, VisionFund wanted to install BankBI within each of the 30-plus MFIs in line with the transformation programme and where this has already been completed, BankBI has given VisionFund a level of control they’d never thought possible. However, waiting for the rollout of the core systems meant that VisionFund would need to wait too long for the analytics visibility it wanted.
The short term solution has been a ‘fast track’ option, where MFIs can upload their loan portfolios directly to BankBI in Microsoft Azure. By doing so, the process has already been streamlined into something readily achievable. Thanks to this, the corporate level was able to achieve a priority level of visibility, allowing them to make decisions about global lending limits while monitoring at risk portfolio.
“BankBI complements the reporting capability of Musoni and allows executive management to get the data and insights they need without needing to directly access the core banking system.”
Tim Tempany, VFI Global
Program Director of VFM
To continue supporting low-income and underserved areas like Myanmar in the APAC market, VisionFund International desperately needed financial consolidation to bring their disparate data from over 30 countries together in one place.
Working with Musoni, BankBI has transformed VisionFund’s financial management and has given them control and visibility over their network. Where the implementation of a solution like this can be time-consuming, our focus on fast time to value and speed to result meant that VisionFund was able to access their data quickly after beginning the integration. By doing so, we overcame implementation as a roadblock.
“In practical terms this means not just that BankBI have the software and a highly effective implementation methodology but the willingness to go the extra mile to get us where we want to be. In that sense, BankBI has given us back the reins.”
Tom Allen, VFI Global
Director of Change & Programmes
In summary, by working with our newly integrated digitalisation partner Musoni, we helped VisionFund take control over the visibility of its data, consolidating it across a wide network to relieve them of the burden and ensure they could continue their work in Myanmar unabated.
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