EP 383 - Can AI and Digital Collateral Improve Financial Inclusion Exponentially? - Rene Payan - PayJoy

In many emerging markets, traditional credit systems fail to serve the underbanked because they rely on formal employment records and financial histories that many people simply don’t have. But access to credit doesn’t have to be limited to those with paperwork.

In this episode of ATP, we talk to Rene Payan, Country Manager for the Philippines at PayJoy who explains how PayJoy is changing that reality by using smartphones as digital collateral and AI-powered risk models to “find a yes” instead of defaulting to “no.”

Some of the topics that Rene covers in detail include:

• For decades, the underserved and underbanked have been locked out of formal financial systems because they lacked traditional credit histories. PayJoy challenges that orthodoxy with a powerful shift in mindset: instead of searching for reasons to deny credit, the company actively searches for reasons to approve it.
• Smartphones can be more than devices, PayJoy has developed a unique approach to underwriting: it uses a smartphone’s functionality as digital collateral.
• PayJoy didn’t start out as a lender. The company originally offered its technology via SaaS to third-party lenders. But when partners failed to replicate PayJoy’s commitment to "finding a yes," PayJoy doubled down on direct lending.
• Long before AI became a buzzword, PayJoy was deploying machine learning to refine its pricing strategies and risk assessments. The goal isn’t just approval—but optimized approval.
• What PayJoy is building is not just a credit business, but an embedded finance ecosystem. Customers encounter financial services not in banks, but at retail counters while buying a phone.