Ava and the Future of Financial Inclusion for Immigrants

It's 2024, and we're living in exciting times where technology is reshaping our lives. Yet, we're still living in the past regarding financial inclusion.

Our financial system heavily relies on a risk model created in the 19th century. The traditional credit system was designed to provide a standardized way to evaluate an individual's credit risk based on their credit history, making the process more objective and efficient for lenders. However, this old system is flexible, leaving individuals with thin or non-existent credit profiles with limited or no access to products and services.

Immigrants, in particular, find themselves at a disadvantage because they are invisible to a system that does not recognize their worth beyond a credit score.

We're here to change that.

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Building Trust in a Trustless Era

Financial inclusion is a big problem, but we're well-positioned to think big and act big due to technological advancements in AI and open banking.

For the first time, we can shift the power dynamics, putting consumers in the driver's seat of their financial data and benefiting from it.

The first step to making it a reality is to build the infrastructure enabling a credit system beyond credit data. That's why, in 2023, we built a Global Digital Identity System to build Trust between consumers and businesses.

Powered by Identity & Open Banking Data, we have created a universal Digital ID called the Trust Profile. Trust Profile consolidates consumer financial data from +5,000 financial institutions across 26 countries. Leveraging banking information (e.g. account balances, transactions, income, etc.) and identity verification (KYC/AML).

The Trust Profile allows businesses to verify consumers and make credit adjudication decisions faster. There are endless use cases, but we're focusing on services directly impacting newcomers.

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The Open Finance Collective

After helping +1,000 individuals to move to Canada successfully, we identified four significant challenges that newcomers face:

• creating a pathway plan (e.g., work or study? Which city?)
• finding their community
• lack of credit history
• finding a place to live (housing)

With limited time and an overload of information, individuals usually rely on the immigrant community to give them reliable information to act on, which may lead them to misinformation and, consequently, poor decision-making.

After creating a system for businesses to Trust newcomers, we need to build a system for newcomers to Trust businesses, and that's why we're launching the Open Finance Collective (OFC). The OFC is a group of companies and institutions that will adopt the Trust Profile as a universal Digital ID, which can be used as part of their application process for products and services.

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Ava - The Backbone of our Trust System

To build Trust between consumers and businesses, we have built Ava, Vambora's AI assistant that serves a dual function at Vambora:

• For individuals, it combines personal financial management with digital identity verification, offering tailored financial guidance and access to financial products and services.
• On the business side, Ava can be trained to deliver personalized customer experiences when interacting with users. Businesses can leverage the Trust Profile to streamline consumer onboarding with pre-approved offers and a seamless verification process.

How it works

1. Businesses define their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on Trust Profile attributes (income, balances, user relocation status, etc.). By understanding the financial persona of a user, businesses can target creditworthy customers based on accepted risk levels.
2. Ava interacts with users that match the ICP to offer product or service
3. Ava streamlines user onboarding by eliminating long application forms
4. User connects bank accounts and provides consent for business to access data
5. Companies can access consumer-permissioned data via APIs
6. Businesses can access data insights from existent profiles (anonymized data) in the collective pool

By seamlessly blending personal financial management with robust digital identity verification, Ava does more than just offer financial guidance; it opens doors to financial products and services previously out of reach for many immigrants. This dual functionality ensures that individuals are seen and genuinely recognized for their potential, transforming how businesses interact with and support newcomers.

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Empowering Immigrant Women with Ava: Let's Go, Girls!

We're at a pivotal moment in history where technology gives us the power to redefine what's possible. Ava is at the heart of this transformation, offering a new path forward for financial inclusion and Trust. By supporting Ava and the Open Finance Collective, you're not just advocating for a more equitable financial system but championing a future where everyone, regardless of their background, can thrive.

On March 8th, we’re releasing Ava GPT in the OpenAI marketplace. This public and completely free version of our solution is not just an introduction to Ava's capabilities; it's an invitation to be part of a movement that champions financial inclusion and trust. We're looking for our first users to join us in shaping the future of financial inclusion.

If you want to be one of our early users, or tell your immigrant story, use this link here.

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Are you business and want to help us shape the future of financial inclusion together?

If this cause resonates with you and your company, please reach out to us via this form. We’re looking for businesses to join the Open Finance Collective and help us build the infrastructure of tomorrow for creating a better and more equitable financial system in Canada.

Together, we can build a better tomorrow for all Canadians and Canadians to be.

#letsgo

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