Grab Finance and FICO Transform Financial Inclusion Across Southeast Asia with Advanced Credit Decisioning
Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, Grab, is redefining access to credit for millions of consumers, drivers, and merchants across the region by leveraging advanced decisioning technology from FICO (NYSE: FICO). Through a combination of behavioral data analysis and real-time, automated credit workflows, Grab Finance has achieved a dramatic increase in financial inclusion, earning the prestigious 2026 FICO® Decision Award for Financial Inclusion.
Grab Finance, the financial services arm of the Grab superapp, now serves more than 46 million users across six countries in Southeast Asia, along with millions of drivers and merchant partners. By implementing over 22 decision workflows using FICO Platform, Grab has boosted credit offer eligibility rates for its users by nearly 50%, enabling more people and businesses to access formal credit faster than ever before.
Using FICO Platform, we can deliver contextual, real-time credit offers across multiple verticals within the Grab super app,” said Andre Tan, Regional Head, Lending Risk Platforms at Grab Finance. “This enables us to expand financial inclusion by providing credit access for underserved users who are economically active but often overlooked by traditional lenders.”
Tackling Southeast Asia’s Credit Gap
Southeast Asia is home to over 700 million people, yet a large portion of the population remains underbanked or underserved by traditional financial institutions. Many individuals and businesses lack formal credit histories, leaving them with thin” files that conventional banks cannot assess. This has historically created barriers for millions of economically active users, from small merchants to gig economy drivers.
Grab Finance recognized a strategic opportunity: leverage the superapp ecosystem and its wealth of behavioral data to create alternative credit risk models. By analyzing user behavior—including ride frequency, merchant transaction data, and payment patterns—Grab can generate a holistic view of creditworthiness that traditional credit bureaus might miss.
We had millions of drivers and merchants who were invisible to traditional banks but were earning real income every day on our platform,” said Tan. “We knew we could change that equation, but we needed technology that could support our efforts to see what conventional credit scoring couldn’t.”
The approach addresses not only the lack of traditional data but also the fragmented regulatory landscape in Southeast Asia, where credit, banking, and data privacy laws vary from country to country. Grab’s implementation ensures localized compliance while maintaining consistent regional credit decisioning standards, safeguarding both the company and its users.
Delivering Credit in Real Time
The implementation of the FICO Platform was rapid and ambitious. In less than eight months, Grab Finance deployed the first phase of the project across six countries, rolling out 22 decision workflows across three primary user groups: driver-partners, passengers, and merchant-partners. These workflows automate key credit processes, including eligibility assessment and pre-approved credit offers, while factoring in behavioral insights to provide contextual, real-time lending decisions.
What Grab Finance has accomplished here is remarkable. They’ve essentially turned everyday digital behavior into a credit passport for millions of people who were previously invisible to traditional banking,” said Nikhil Behl, President of Software at FICO. “When a taxi driver in Jakarta can get credit based on their ride patterns, or a food merchant in Bangkok can access working capital through their delivery history, that’s not just innovation, it’s economic transformation at scale.”
This rapid deployment highlights not only the technological capabilities of FICO Platform but also Grab Finance’s strategic focus on scalable, responsible credit expansion. By converting user engagement into actionable credit insights, Grab is empowering people who were previously excluded from the formal financial system.
Recognition for Financial Innovation
Grab Finance’s work has been recognized with the 2026 FICO Decision Award for Financial Inclusion, an accolade that highlights exceptional achievements in credit decisioning and financial technology. The award judges noted the organization’s ability to operationalize regulatory diversity across Southeast Asia within a unified credit decisioning framework, demonstrating both innovation and compliance at scale.
This project drew attention because Grab Finance addressed credit assessment at a regional scale, rather than focusing solely on a discrete technology implementation,” said Sam Abadir, Research Director, Risk and Compliance, IDC Financial Insights. “The organization integrated compliance requirements directly into the platform design, creating a model that could be replicated across diverse markets while remaining fully responsible and transparent.”
Advancing Financial Inclusion Across the Region
By harnessing the power of behavioral data and advanced decisioning technology, Grab Finance is breaking down traditional barriers to credit access. Millions of drivers, merchants, and consumers across Southeast Asia are now able to access pre-approved loans and working capital offers in real time, fostering economic participation and enabling growth for underserved communities.
Grab Finance’s partnership with FICO demonstrates how technology-driven, data-rich financial solutions can deliver meaningful impact at scale. Through this initiative, the company has not only expanded access to formal credit but also redefined what financial inclusion looks like in one of the world’s most dynamic regions.
About Grab Finance
Grab is a leading superapp in Southeast Asia, operating across the deliveries, mobility and digital financial services sectors. Serving over 800 cities in eight Southeast Asian countries – Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – Grab enables millions of people every day to order food or groceries, send packages, hail a ride or taxi, pay for online purchases or access services such as lending and insurance, all through a single app. We operate supermarkets in Malaysia under Jaya Grocer and Everrise, which enables us to bring the convenience of on-demand grocery delivery to more consumers in the country. As part of our financial services offerings, we also provide digital banking services through GXS Bank in Singapore and GXBank in Malaysia. Grab was founded in 2012 with the mission to drive Southeast Asia forward by creating economic empowerment for everyone. Grab strives to serve a triple bottom line – we aim to simultaneously deliver financial performance for our shareholders and have a positive social impact, which includes economic empowerment for millions of people in the region, while mitigating our environmental footprint.
About the FICO® Decision Awards
The FICO Decision Awards recognize organizations that are achieving remarkable success using FICO solutions. A panel of independent judges with deep industry expertise evaluates nominations based upon measurable improvement in key metrics; demonstrated use of best practices; project scale, depth and breadth; and innovative uses of technology. The 2026 judges are:
