Pepper Advantage secures Indonesian licence

By Delisha Fernandes

Pepper Advantage, a credit intelligence company, has obtained an AFPI FinTech licence to service the growing number of non-bank credit providers operating in Indonesia.

Since entering the Indonesian market in 2021, the company has opened new offices in Jakarta and Malang, expanding rapidly to operate in 13 cities and becoming the country’s first global servicing platform with the capability to service a range of asset classes.

The recent acquisition of Rieom.ai, an AI-driven credit assessment platform, will soon complement our collections technology to deliver services efficiently at scale and drive financial inclusion through the assessment of creditworthiness without a credit score, which can be a barrier to entry for the unbanked.

Fraser Gemmell, Chief Executive Officer of Pepper Advantage, said, “Demand for credit in Indonesia is rising rapidly, with Bank Indonesia (Indonesia’s central bank) recording credit growth of 11.35% on the year to December 2022. This, coupled with an unbanked population of over 130 million and a relatively low inflationary environment, creates an exciting opportunity for Pepper Advantage. We are proud of the Indonesian team’s enterprise and dynamism in developing market-leading credit intelligence for a widening pool of asset classes.”

Aaron Milburn, Managing Director of Pepper Advantage Indonesia, said, “Securing the AFPI licence is a fantastic achievement given the high standards and exacting requirements. This underlines the strong proposition Pepper Advantage brings to the Indonesian market. We are experiencing significant interest from FinTechs for our services, seeing us grow to work with 25 institutions to manage and support their 250,000 customers.”

In 2021, the company established PT Pepper Services Indonesia to build out its presence in Indonesia. As a result, it is now offering a full suite of credit management services, including data and analytics.