PC Financial Services
PC Financial Services’ mobile app CashBean is very popular for its swiftness and ease of use:
PC Financial Services (PCFS) is a fintech subsidiary of Osloheadquartered, Nasdaq-registered Opera Group. It is a digital financial services platform, catering to a wide gamut of personal credit requirements. Its mobile app, CashBean, available on Google Play store in India, is claimed to be the most downloaded finance app in India and highest rated among all digital lenders.
Raghuvir Gakhar, CEO, PCFS, says with over 10 million app downloads, the family of customers is still increasing. “We strengthen our integration with banks and payment gateways to provide real-time balance info to customers. We were the first digital lender in India to incorporate video KYC. All our customer engagements are done through the mobile app. Our tech stack stands on SQL, .Net, Golang and PHP,” he says.
APP EXPEDITES DISBURSAL
CashBean facilitates a customer availing unsecured cash-loan through a swift digital system. In India, CashBean started functioning from scratch in January 2019 after a change in control and management of PCFS in December 2018. Raghuvir says the product, is extremely popular for its swiftness and ease of loan disbursement. The proprietary underwriting and technology behind the app work in harmony while expediting loan disbursal in record times.
PUSHING TECH PARTNERS
He emphasizes that PCFS’ business is 100% online. The company is now providing language options for its big customers in Marathi, Telugu, etc. It started by aligning itself with small tech players in the transaction space, KYC services, etc. “We pushed them to also uplift their tech base through tech advice and business
volumes. All of our services are available on CashBean,” he adds.
SOLUTION PARTNERS
He also says the company avoids sharing details of its association with partnering, investing and supporting startups as it will be akin to leaking trade secrets. “We do tend to support dependable small entity fintech solution providers so that both they and we can grow together. Also, such companies are keener than others to deliver when they associate with us. Such partnerships also help in keeping better control over our endto-end loan lifecycle management,” he says.
INHOUSE TECH
PCFS has set up its R&D center i n Bengaluru. It has spent heavily on tech upgrades. Raghuvir says he puts his faith in the team’s attitude, passion, and integrity to build a long-term business, which is reputed and successful. “We have employed the best minds towards bettering our tech stack and envision continuous growth in our tech headcount in the coming years as we keep adding features and product lines. I believe business is about the set of people knitted together in the company to walk hand-in-hand in the journey of mutual growth,” he says.
AI ENABLED ANALYTICS
PCFS caters to a wide gamut of personal credit requirements. It actually analyzes a borrower’s basic personal information through a highly secure tech stack. There is an in-house risk engine with AI-enabled analytics on big data and this analysis is used to provide loans to the customer pool.
While PCFS is also keen to release more products for the Indian consumers in the domains of consumer financing and small business loans, currently most new product development is on pause in lieu of covid. “As things improve, expect more from us in the next 3-6 months,” says Raghuvir.
LEVERAGING TECH FOR CRM
On social media too PCFS is quite approachable and prominently placed to both sharing info with the customers and also resolving customer issues. Raghuvir cites data: “Our average TAT for a complaint via social media is just 30 mins! Obviously, things such as text messaging, notifications, AI & ML, etc all come together to help us create a good customer experience. We see banking becoming more and more tech integrated in the future as things will become more about smooth paperless delivery and digital verifications. We also encourage customers to provide us with their own independent testimonials about their experiences with CashBean in short-form videos, which we
share via our social media as a way to both educate and encourage the customer base.”
CULTURAL CHANGE
Post pandemic, PCFS is one of the first companies in the region to get its staff fully vaccinated. Raghuvir says the main cultural shift has been the fact that not just PCFS but almost all companies will be investing a lot more into employee wellness.” It is for this very reason that internally too we have become a lot more sensitive to employee health issues especially after the second wave,” he says.
CUSTOMIZED TRAINING
PCFS has an online resource management system that is used by its employees to avail any training benefits. The company believes that the training has to be relevant to the work one is performing, so she/he just needs to get a sign-off from her immediate reporting manager. “We have an open-door policy on learning and development (L&D) and a push team for a customized training plan to keep upgrading the skill set,” says Raghuvir.
FPC: 90% DROP IN COMPLAINTS
Internally, PCFS has ensured that all collection staff is notified of RBI’s Fair Practices Code (FPC) regularly so that the behavior is ingrained in them. This has resulted in a 90% drop in the number of complaints in the last 1 year. The company has also done number and name masking of the customers at various levels to ensure data security - this is something that it finds to be extremely important in this day and age.
STRONG & FLEXIBLE SYSTEMS
States Raghuvir: “One thing that covid has taught us is that our IT systems need to be both strong and flexible at the same time. Strong, so that even when sudden lockdowns happen and WFH is instituted, the system should be such that governance is maintained on overall work activities. But flexible in a way so that it is able to absorb the change and ensure business continuity.”
He maintains that a l ot ef f ort has been taken to improve customer experience end-to-end from disbursal of loan to repayment. “We are determined to improve customer literacy on digital security, increase their knowledge about app security and even basic things such as OTP security,” he says.
PLANS TO SERVE ALL
PCFS aspires to deliver the most effective platform for low and middle-income Indians to access credit at the time of their most need. “I want to serve all the people, who are looking for a small ticket loan for immediate financial requirements and emergencies through the company and to contribute to financial inclusion projects that impact uplift and nation-building,” says Raghuvir.