Leading the Data Revolution: How Jaja Finance and Open Banking Are Shaping an Inclusive Future for Lending

In a financial services landscape transformed by technology, the power of data has never been more critical—or more promising. We had an exclusive discussion with one of our speakers for CDAO FSI UK, Francesco Di Costanzo, CEO at Jaja Finance who explained how at Jaja Finance, they believe that real innovation arises when data is leveraged not just for efficiency, but for impact: expanding access to credit, ensuring fairness, and fostering genuine inclusion.

This is why Francesco is passionate about the transformative potential of enriched transaction data, enabled by Open Banking. By unlocking a comprehensive, real-time view of a customer’s financial profile, they’re moving beyond the limitations of traditional credit assessment, making lending smarter, more transparent, and truly customer centric.

In today’s climate of heightened focus on affordability, transparency, and financial inclusion, this evolution is not just timely—it’s essential. Data-driven decisioning is reshaping the future of lending, and at Jaja Finance, they are proud to be at the forefront, driving innovation that delivers true value and positive outcomes for our customers.

Francesco will be speaking at the Chief Data and Analytics Officers (CDAO) FSI UK, on 9^th of September 2025 in London, you can join him there to hear his session by securing your place here.

Ahead of the event we sat down with him to ask him some key questions about his thoughts on the future of data and analytics:

What are the top 3 challenges that the industry will face in 2026, and why?

1. Balancing Growth and Innovation with Regulation: As AI, Open Banking, and embedded finance reshape lending, regulators are racing to keep up. The challenge will be ensuring innovation doesn’t outpace oversight—especially in areas like explainable AI, algorithmic bias, and data privacy. Lenders will need to navigate evolving rules while still delivering seamless, tech-driven, customer-centric experiences.

2. Financial inclusion and serving the underserved: With millions of consumers still excluded from mainstream credit due to thin files or non-traditional income, the pressure is on to build more inclusive models. But doing so at scale without increasing risk, requires smarter data, better analytics, and a shift in mindset. Our unique data-sharing capabilities with Asda allow us to offer credit to its 18million customers through our mainstream Asda Money Credit Card or Asda Money Select Credit Card, one of the very few credit builder cards on the market that offers customers the same benefits and rewards as a mainstream card. It’s vital for the industry to prove it can lend responsibly and inclusively.

3. Cybersecurity and Data Integrity: With more data flowing through Open Banking and AI systems, the risk of breaches, fraud, and data misuse rises. Maintaining robust cybersecurity and clear data governance will be critical—not just for compliance, but for reputation.
   
   

What are the top 3 trends you think will take AI/data/analytics to the next level in 2025/2026, and why?

1. AI Agents handling tasks, making decisions, and even collaborating with humans in real time is what will take AI to the next level. Last year, Jaja was one of the first UK Fintechs to launch a GenAI chat assistant using Anthropic’s Claude 3’s advanced language model, which we’ve now advanced to Claude 3.7. Airi, our chat assistant, was originally predicted to reduce average customer response times by over 65%, allowing faster enquiry resolution. This has now reached 90% reduction in customer response times, taking us only 15 seconds to answer a customer’s enquiry versus the 3 minutes it previously took.  

It was also predicted to handle up to 30% of routine customer enquiries – it’s now consistently resolving more than 50% of customer enquiries. Allowing our customer service teams more time to focus on complex, high-value customer interactions that require human expertise – this is what is helping us deliver a superior customer experience. While AI is a significant part of staying ahead of the competition, having an omnichannel is also as important so that you’re serving your customers how they want to be served, whether that’s via the app, online or over the phone.

Enhanced AI will continue to help companies like us leverage innovative and agile capabilities to deliver personalised, convenient, and seamless experiences for our customers across the entire journey, including credit decisioning. It’s allowing for a more sophisticated approach when it comes to risk profiles and affordability. Our AI and analytics can now look at other factors and potential characteristics above and beyond previous credit history and affordability factors - allowing greater acceptance rates - opening up credit to those customers who need it most.

2. Embedded Finance: owning more of the customer experience, using data and AI to present right options at the right time to the right customers, through credit risk modelling and open data capabilities. 

3. Enhanced modern technologies will not only impact customers' expectations but risk management techniques too. First, a vast amount of data is available and easily accessible for financial services providers. Faster and cheaper computing power allows providers to process data and carry out a better credit-risk decision as well as monitoring portfolios for detecting financial crimes and predicting operational losses. Data elaboration, then, is getting increasingly advanced thanks to machine learning. These models learn with every bit of new information they acquire, improving their predictive power over time. This is only going to get much better.

Which trend associated with data/analytics are you most interested in/passionate about? Why do you think this is so relevant today?

At Jaja Finance, we’re passionate about the use of enriched transaction data through Open Banking to drive more inclusive and responsible lending. Our aim is to offer simple, fair and efficient credit to our customers. We’ve recently partnered with one of the UK’s leading Open Banking providers, D.One, to enhance our financial inclusion by using data beyond traditional credit decisioning methods, offering a comprehensive view of a customer’s financial health. This approach, alongside our own existing sophisticated credit decisioning models, will ensure better outcomes for our customers. The partnership also helps us deliver more accurate income verification, risk insights, and affordability assessments.

Why is this so relevant? Because traditional credit scores often miss the full picture, especially for consumers with thin files, non-standard income, or past credit challenges. By using real-time banking data and intelligent categorisation, we can build a far more accurate and dynamic view of someone’s financial health. This allows us to make smarter, fairer decisions and extend credit to people who might otherwise be excluded.

In today’s climate (where affordability, transparency, and financial inclusion are under the spotlight) this kind of data-driven innovation isn’t just relevant, it’s essential.

How do you think the role of data has evolved?

Data has significantly changed the lending space in a short space of time. Traditionally lending was based on traditional data from credit agencies to something now that is constantly ever evolving.

Today, thanks to Open Banking, AI, and real-time analytics, data is being used to predict, personalise, and proactively manage risk. For us, it’s about understanding how, when, and under what conditions our customers are most likely to succeed in managing their credit well.

Take our collections approach for example; it’s no longer a one size fits all approach – we’re prioritising early intervention, personalised engagement, and ethical recovery practices. Our collections strategy includes proactive identification of financial stress using real-time transaction data; tailored repayment plans based on affordability and behavioural segmentation, and omnichannel communication that adapts to customer needs, when and where they need it.

In short, we’ve implemented a model that’s empathetic, data-rich, and digitally enabled—with the goal of preserving customer relationships, ensuring their financial health while managing risk. This allows us to serve more diverse borrowers, make faster decisions, and build fairer, simpler and more efficient systems.

What are you looking forward to/contributing towards at CDAO FSI UK?

I’m honoured to be invited as a keynote speaker to this year’s CDAO FSI UK. I’m looking forward to sharing my experience on scaling success through data - how Jaja has focused on enhancing the customer experience, advancing financial inclusion via Open Banking, and ensuring responsible lending through advanced analytics and risk models—all powered by the strength of strategic partnerships.

To conclude, the evolution of data and analytics in financial services is not merely a technological advancement, it is a decisive step towards greater equity, transparency, and resilience in lending. By embracing Open Banking and enriched transaction data, the industry is moving beyond legacy barriers to deliver smarter, fairer decisions for all customers. As affordability and financial inclusion remain at the forefront of public and regulatory expectations, continued innovation in data-driven decisioning is vital. Those institutions that champion responsible data usage and next-generation analytics will not only meet today’s demands but set a higher standard for customer experience and impact. The future of lending belongs to those who lead with insight, integrity, and a commitment to empowering every individual with better access and opportunity.

Join us at the Hilton London Tower Bridge on 9^th of September 2025 for Chief Data and Analytics Officers (CDAO) FSI UK, the essential event for data leaders to gain actionable insights, powerful frameworks, and valuable peer connections to drive real business impact. Sign up for your VIP ticket here.