Bank CEOs: treat transaction data as collateral for SMEs without title deeds
Key points
- Kenya lenders are using AI, alternative data and cloud tools to score borrowers who lack land or vehicle logbooks.
- Spinmobile CEO Victor Kiplagat told a 13 August 2026 Nairobi forum of bank, MFI, digital-lender and Sacco chiefs that “data is the new collateral.”
- He named small traders, boda boda operators and barbers, whose daily transactions can show capacity and character.
- Metropol CRB CEO Gideon Kipyakwai said digital-lending books have recorded lower non-performing loans than some traditional channels; both men flagged thin or biased training data.
“Data is the new collateral.” Victor Kiplagat, chief executive of Spinmobile, said that to a room of commercial-bank, microfinance, digital-lender and Sacco chiefs in Nairobi on 13 August 2026, The Standard reported.
The pitch is aimed at SMEs that cannot pledge a title or a logbook. Kiplagat said a trader, a boda rider or a barber still leaves a daily trail — cash-in, cash-out, repeat customers — that AI and “big data” can turn into a picture of capacity and character. He said apps already let people borrow without walking into a branch, and that faster, more consistent decisions can cut operating cost and, if passed on, the price of a loan. He also said the models are only as good as the data: thin sets and bias are the live risks. Gideon Kipyakwai, CEO of Metropol CRB, said automated scoring on many data points is already showing lower non-performing loans on digital books than on some older channels that leaned on “assumptions and limited information.” He said real-time analysis lets a lender say no faster, and that platforms such as SpinMobile can sit beside bureau files rather than replace them. The room’s other claim — that the same stack could travel into other African markets — is an ambition, not a licence. A breakfast quote is not a CBK circular. Borrowers still need to know which data trail is being sold, and who deletes it when the loan is cleared.
A cleaner NPL ratio is not a fair score
If boda data becomes a charge, CBK and ODPC should say what a rejected rider can see and contest. “Alternative data” without an appeal path is just a quieter no.
Finance desk: Finance. Verified 13 August forum, Kiplagat quote and Kipyakwai NPL remark from The Standard.
CBK should map which lenders already use alternative scores. Metropol should publish the NPL comparison with dates, not only a speech line.
SME owners should ask which phone and till records a lender will pull before they tap “accept.”
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Based on The Standard’s 17 August report of the 13 August CEO forum. NPL comparisons were not itemised in that account.
