The Alliance’s latest Ask the Expert session brought together leaders from three fintech members: Rachel Freeman, Chief Growth Officer at GoTyme; Lucinda Revell, Co-founder and COO of Boost Capital; and Iwalola Sobowale, Head of Customer Experience and Market Research at Moniepoint, Nigeria. Each shared examples of how they are using AI to help more women move through the sales funnel, from onboarding to approval to long-term loyalty.
Onboarding: Faster, safer sign-ups
In South Africa, GoTyme Bank uses biometrics to onboard new customers and verify their documents in seconds. In the Philippines, it uses the country’s national digital ID and facial recognition to verify identities instantly at sign-up. Because AI flags fraudulent credentials and biometric entries before an account is opened, GoTyme is reducing fraud while making sign-up easier for customers.
Approval: More accessible credit, with the right oversight
AI models are also analyzing transaction activity to return credit decisions in seconds, expanding access to finance for women-owned businesses without traditional credit histories. Moniepoint, for example, has grown its lending to women-owned businesses in Nigeria by more than 300 percent since it began underwriting loans based on transaction patterns at its POS terminals.
In the Philippines, GoTyme is using AI to enhance MoreTyme, its Buy-Now-Pay-Later product. When users activate MoreTyme, they instantly receive a personalized credit limit based on their banking activity and spending habits. This allows the bank to offer flexible repayment options beyond fixed installments, as well as features like Get Cash, which lets users convert their remaining credit limit into a cash advance. According to Rachel Freeman, these changes have made MoreTyme the bank’s second most popular product. It’s done especially well with women, who make up 60 percent of the bank’s customers in the Philippines.
More alternative lending use cases may be on the way. As Boost Capital’s Lucinda Revell noted, AI is currently helping more women meet existing credit criteria, but in the future, it could help broaden those criteria, for example by using receipts and inventory photos to verify a business and its income.
This all takes careful testing to get right. The panelists stressed the need to rigorously monitor AI models––including by regularly checking for unconscious gender bias.
Usage and loyalty: Personalized nudges, human service
Rather than sending generic promotions, GoTyme uses AI to predict customers’ behaviors and needs. The system analyzes spending habits to trigger relevant MoreTyme merchant discounts and push notifications tailored to each user’s lifestyle.
When it comes to customer service, however, GoTyme draws a clear line. The company follows a “high-tech, high-touch” model and has a firm policy against using AI in customer service: MoreTyme customers will always speak directly with human bankers, not chatbots or automated menus.
Underlying dynamics
One challenge cut across every stage: regulation and safeguards are still catching up with the technology. For financial services providers adopting AI, this makes earning and keeping customers’ trust essential. Whether AI keeps more women in the sales funnel will depend on providers’ ability to integrate it in ways that strengthen, rather than sacrifice, customer confidence.
The Alliance’s next Ask the Expert session, on non-financial services, will take place in late October. Members interested in registering should email peerlearning@financialallianceforwomen.org
