Balancehero Patents AI Alternative Credit Scoring, Targets India Fintech Market

Balancehero, a leading K-fintech company in India, has officially received recognition for its technological innovation by obtaining a patent for its self-developed Alternative Credit Scoring system (ACS). This patent, registered under international and advanced patent classifications, will serve as a strong protective shield for Balancehero's unique credit scoring algorithm. This patented technology was designed to reflect India's unique financial environment. Its core is to accurately calculate credit scores using alternative data for young professionals who find it difficult to prove income or lack sufficient financial history, or for locals with a high proportion of cash salaries. This plays a crucial role in increasing financial product approval rates and lowering delinquency rates, and has been a powerful driving force behind Balancehero's annual revenue and operating profit growth of over 50% for the past five years. Balancehero's ACS is a game-changer, providing financial accessibility to approximately 1 billion low- and middle-income individuals in India. It has opened up new opportunities for those previously excluded from financial services due to a lack of traditional credit assessment criteria, such as bank transaction history. Balancehero accurately assesses creditworthiness by precisely analyzing various payment and transaction information within smartphone messages (SMS) using artificial intelligence (AI). Furthermore, by continuously expanding and applying the latest AI technologies, such as Large Language Models (LLM), to enhance the system, it supports low- and middle-income individuals in easily and quickly accessing micro-financial services. In India, ACS has established a unique position by achieving high approval rates and lower delinquency rates compared to competitors, based on rapid credit assessment. This competitiveness served as a driving force, leading to a turnaround to profit in 2022 and achieving 144.2 billion won in revenue last year. Shin Jae-hyuk, Balancehero leader, stated, "Accurately reflecting the local Indian environment and user characteristics, coupled with continuous upgrades through AI, has created an overwhelming gap in technology and performance compared to similar services." He emphasized that Balancehero will accelerate its expansion into a fintech platform, with ACS as its core growth engine. Leveraging this patent registration, Balancehero plans to further widen its technological gap and actively expand its fintech platform business areas. Currently, approximately 30% of its revenue is generated from ACS-based platform businesses, and it plans to add various product lines in the future to grow into a comprehensive financial service provider.