Integra Talks #1: Ethical and digital debt collection in Southeast Asia

On this month’s episode of Integra Talks: Arun Pai, head of Sales and Strategy at Flow, discusses ethical and digital debt collection in Southeast Asia with Christiaan Kaptein, Partner at Integra Partners.

Most of the venture ecosystem has been focused on the development of new lenders, in the form of P2P, buy now pay later, gig worker lending, vehicle financing, and across all Southeast Asian markets, the launch of regulated digital banks. Collections has been much overlooked, despite it being a most important part of the lending value chain.

Traditionally, originators partner with dozens of local, offline collections agencies who are paid on a success basis. This comes not only with operational challenges, but also carries substantial reputational risks for lenders. As collectors get paid on the basis of total value collected, the incentive is to push as hard as possible for maximum repayment, as soon as possible. This has led to instances of harassment, intimidation, and even physical harm.

Flow exists to change this and to work with originators and borrowers alike to ensure collection is fair, ethical, with overall improvement in the livelihood of borrowers as well as the financial health of the originators.

Listen to podcast here