Aro partners with GBG to boost onboarding efficiency and accuracy

Aro unveils Aro Precision to redefine lender offerings with advanced fraud prevention and affordability checks 

MANCHESTER, UK – 18 September 2024 – Aro, the UK’s go-to embedded finance partner for brands, has today unveiled Aro Precision – a new service designed to enhance lender capabilities with advanced fraud prevention, optimised affordability checks, and superior marketplace data.

The new Aro Precision service, independent of Aro's marketplace, will transform lender partnerships by addressing digital fraud with robust ID and third-party checks – no matter where the customer is applying or the product they’re applying for.

With 23 million underserved adults in the UK facing increasing affordability challenges amid heightened demand for credit, Aro Precision data will bolster lenders’ confidence in affordability calculations, thereby reducing the number of declined applications and increasing financial opportunities for consumers. This data will be available for reuse by lenders, later in the customer journey.

With changes to mortgage interest rates now becoming more frequent and pressures on conduct risk and affordability assessments, stress testing a first charge mortgage is now commonplace when assessing affordability for other products. This can lead to more affordability declines or manual processes that slow down the application journey and increase operational costs. Aro Precision will also optimise mortgage affordability and payment stability, providing actionable insights and enhancing stress tests for more personalised customer offerings.

Andrew Fisher, Chief Growth Officer at Aro, highlights: “Many lenders are increasingly hesitant to accept customers from direct channels due to concerns around fraud and low intent to repay. Aro Precision addresses these challenges head-on by providing advanced fraud prevention and thorough identity verification processes, all integrated into a single API. This service not only enhances the reliability of customer data, but also accelerates seamless onboarding for trustworthy customers, ultimately boosting conversion rates and ROI."

Aro has joined forces with GBG, the leading expert in global identity and location, to leverage its global identity network, GBG Trust, to support the new service. This sophisticated network uses cross-sector and industry identity intelligence to help lenders onboard more genuine customers with complete identity confidence as well as protect against fraud by recognising first-party and third-party fraudsters. Using GBG Trust’s enhanced onboarding intelligence, Aro Precision will assign a Trust Score (0-1000) to each customer, categorising them as high, medium or low trust.

The integrated capability will see greater inclusivity, with more intelligence at the point of onboarding. GBG Trust’s powerful rules interrogate millions of identity records, finding positive matches so businesses can recognise every good customer at the very first contact, even if their identity footprint is small. Meanwhile, refining the verification and fraud prevention process will lower the overall cost of customer acquisition.

Laura Barrowcliff, Global Head of GBG Trust, says: “Criminals don’t limit fraud attacks to one business, industry or stop at national borders either. As the battle to combat identity fraud intensifies, collaboration is crucial. By harnessing GBG Trust’s global identity network, which spans over 700 businesses across 24 sectors in more than 80 countries, Aro Precision will help lenders recognise great, good and bad customer prospects at onboarding and before transacting.

We look forward to partnering with Aro to provide lenders with a strong first line of defence against identity fraud, while improving financial inclusion.”

This launch marks a pivotal milestone in the ongoing battle against financial fraud and underscores the power of collaboration between industry leaders to innovate and elevate standards across the finance sector. The new solution will be available for lenders later this year, with the first proof of concepts currently taking place.

ENDS

About GBG

GBG is the leading expert in global identity and location. In an increasingly digital world, GBG helps businesses grow by giving them intelligence to make the best decisions about their customers, when it matters most.

Every second, our global data, agile technology, and expert teams, power over 20,000 of the world's best-known organisations to reach and trust their customers.

Learn more at www.gbgplc.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X @gbgplc.

About Aro

Aro is the UK’s go-to embedded finance partner, largest consumer lending marketplace and one of the nation’s leading second-charge mortgage brokers. The fintech’s data-driven platform delivers personal credit solutions 24-7. It accurately matches customers to exactly the right credit products for their needs, giving them the power to take control of their finances.

Aro is partnered with some of the UK’s biggest brands, including Argos, Asda Money, BNP Paribas, TSB and V12 Retail Finance. Aro’s embedded finance partners can give their customers access to the UK’s largest lending marketplace, as well as get a better understanding of their customers through Aro’s enhanced data capabilities.