Walk with destiny

June 9, 2021 | 6:44 pm

By Manuel V. Pangilinan

(Longtime PLDT President, CEO, and Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan gave this speech on June 8 at the PLDT 2021 annual stockholders’ meeting.)

I BEGIN my remarks today by saying how proud I am of thousands of our frontliners on what they accomplished last year in the teeth of the pandemic — our network build, installs and repair, sales force and storefront staff, our account managers.

2020 was an exceptionally difficult year for all of us, especially those who lost their loved ones.

But it was also an exceptional year for PLDT — in what we achieved collectively, and how we were transformed for the better by this pandemic. As you can see from our financial and operating results, PLDT not only survived, but thrived, last year.

That said, no matter how robust our profits may be in any year, we must stay keenly focused on serving our customers, especially during crises — keeping families connected, entertained, and educated; enabling businesses to operate at home or in the office; ensuring healthcare is delivered to those who need it — and simply being a source of strength amidst extraordinary adversity and affliction.

LOOKING BACK
When I first became president of PLDT 23 years ago, it was in some ways the fulfillment of my young hopes and ambition. As early as 1999, we spoke about convergence — the coming together of telecoms, media, and the internet — creating a singularly unique experience of communicating.

The world has turned over many times since then, but my hopes and goals have neither diminished nor vanished. In fact, the convergence concept we discussed then has become a verdict of history today.

You will also recall that it was a time when telecommunications was a simple business model — a single product business — which was voice. More than 90% of PLDT’s revenues then were driven by voice. One would assume that the job of PLDT president in 1999 was easy, because the business was simple, and PLDT still was a virtual monopoly.

But technology changed all that rapidly in the short span of 20 years. The changes were phenomenal, but problematic. For one, our revenues have seen consequential changes. Now, 76% of our revenues are data and broadband, and voice accounts for a mere 20%. At the same time, our company has become infinitely more complicated — the coverage and complexity of our networks immense, the range of our products and plans, and customer care and experience awesome.

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING
Let me now bring you forward, to 2015.

About 66 months ago — at a time of trauma and decline for PLDT, the duties of the CEO fell upon me once again. And again, I asked for your prayers, and God’s help, that we might bring our company back to the premiere position it once held — by fixing our networks and making them the best in the country, transforming our business processes from legacy to digital, fortifying our management bench, and, most critically, uniting our people in a single purpose, and igniting that purpose with passion. My primordial goal as CEO was rejuvenation of PLDT as the foremost telco in the country.

I would be less than honest with you if I say that I knew from the start what to do, where PLDT should be going. Rather, I had my own dark nights of doubt and long days of despondency. But because we came together as one, hope was nurtured. And we healed. We are now a stronger company, establishing historic high revenues and EBITDA these past five years. And as the only integrated telco, we have re-created our dominant position across product lines.

HANDING OVER
At the end of this meeting, I will have discharged my final duty as president and CEO of PLDT I’ve asked Al Panlilio to succeed me in this position. My first words would be to declare my support to him.

This decision is made less difficult by the knowledge that Al, with his long experience with PLDT and his competent qualities, would be able to take my place forthwith, without interruption or detriment to the progress of PLDT.

Indeed, there are moments in the lives of corporations, and even in our own lives, where change becomes appropriate, even inevitable.

I now lay down my charge. I will continue to be your chairman and, as such I will always follow the affairs and fortunes of our company with profound interest. If I can be of service to Al and his team at any time, I shall not fail to help.

THE FUTURE — EXPECTATIONS
In the past 23 years, I’ve seen firsthand the ordeals and triumphs of this company.

The P40-billion debt re-structuring of Piltel in 1999, PLDT’s liquidity issues in 2001 exacerbated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York; our acquisition of Sun Cellular in 2011; our loss of leadership in the wireless business starting 2015 — these are just some of the many consequential milestones of PLDT’s storied tapestry.

We’ve seen them all — and prevailed.

So let me say this to conclude — it has been an unparalleled privilege to have served you and this company as your CEO. It has indeed been a remarkable walk with destiny.

Let us therefore confidently face the future as we did the past— resolute to do our duty well, resolute to uphold our values by deed and by word, resolute to attain our highest goals.

I look forward to a great future for PLDT — where our accomplishments will match our service, our passion with our purpose.

I look forward to a PLDT dauntless in facing crises of the worst kind as we did with COVID, fearless in embracing opportunities for innovation or expansion — resolute in preserving the ground we have retaken: never again shall we yield.

I look forward to a PLDT which earns the respect of its peers in business, the keen interest of investors, and the patronage of our customers and communities.

In closing, I wish all of you to be safe and well. In next year’s annual meeting, I hope we can all be together in one place in person. May God bless PLDT. May God bless our country.

Poll dancing

June 9, 2021 | 6:43 pm

ONCE CONSIDERED a stage performance aimed at a slightly inebriated male audience in a dark bar, pole dancing has become a fitness program. With a pole in one’s bedroom, this gym routine can be enhanced with mirrors and music, with no need for provocative movements. Then it does not need to be performed with much skill, only diligent effort and sweat, yet another form of working out from home.

The slithering, sliding, and lifting with upper body strength needed for the “flag pole” position, with the body parallel to the ceiling require determination, and can lead to dangerous slips.

Such exertions are emulated by participants in another type of frenzied activity, like poll dancing. At this juncture when formal campaigning is still disallowed, the players merely strut their stuff.

The background music is set by the surveys.

Wannabes throw their names into the mix, even if they’re just “thinking about it.” They may even express demure denials — I still have a young family to take care of. Other endorsers are assigned to publicly express support to persuade the reluctant candidate to at least consider the possibility. (Is he nodding his head?)

The status of “frontrunner” is vested only by surveys that track declared or undeclared candidates for national office. True, these surveys are not as binding as the US primaries are for the contenders for a party’s nomination.

The frontrunners as the election draws nearer (just 10 months away) enjoy many advantages.

They can draw on the best team of strategists, political analysts, think tanks, and provincial allies who control local vote-getting machines and ruling dynasties. The cape of “winnability” is like a magnet attracting iron filings. The frontrunner needs to publicly turn away those who want to help but may harm the campaign with their past history, still being scrubbed clean — there was a communist threat that needed to be addressed.

Financial support sits on the sidelines until a pattern of ranking emerges. When it does, the money goes to the front of the line. This manifest affinity of funding the frontrunner translates into a widening circle of support. The donor-beneficiary relationship is tilted in favor of the leading candidate as survey results do not require any promises in exchange for support. It is the donor (rarely anonymous) who feels he is paying an entrance fee to get into the big tent.

The difficulties of tail-enders multiply as they drop in the survey ratings.

Support dries up. The first-class talents in the campaign move elsewhere, maybe back to their day jobs. Troll farms have been parceled out to the front of the line. It is harder to make appointments with the fat cats who seem to be tied up in perpetual meetings. (The boss is free to see you sometime in June of next year.)

The laggard is no longer newsworthy. There are gripes and attacks on popularity politics — maybe I don’t smile enough? In radio interviews, their assertions can be grating as the interviewee doesn’t even wait to be asked a question as he launches into the unfairness of the process. The assertion of having the best qualification for the job is greeted with a polite yawn — if you’re so great, why are you at the end of the survey line?

Naturally, the proxies of the “asterisk” (less than one percent of respondents) group who are touted in TV interviews as “resource persons” or “political analysts” try to discredit the methodology of the survey even without having seen the questionnaire — why did they include “my client” in the category of running mate? He is running for the top post. The attempt to throw doubt on the survey mechanics is hoped to erode the benefits of being frontrunner.

It’s possible that survey top-notchers don’t always end up winning. More often though, the tail-enders in the bottom quartile fail to improve their electoral chances either, even as possible running mates. They drop out of the whole political conversation.

At this point, visibility, interviews, quotes on safe topics like the vaccination rollout, and strutting (with social distancing) are all the campaigning process allows. Like any spectator sport, such performances do not always attract interest, except for those leading the pack.

And then for the laggards, it’s a matter of waiting for the next survey and making a decision to quit… for health reasons.

Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda

ar.samson@yahoo.com

COVID delta variant is dominant in Singapore

June 9, 2021 | 6:28 pm

COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) sequencing in Singapore has revealed the emergence of the delta variant as the country’s major local virus strain, underscoring the highly infectious nature of the mutation that has proliferated globally since its first detection in India.

Of these cases as of May 31, 449 have been found to be caused by variants of concern, among which 428 were infections of the delta strain, said the country’s health ministry. The next largest group was nine cases linked to the beta mutation that first emerged in South Africa.

The “current understanding” is that some variants, including the delta mutation, “are more transmissible,” a spokesperson for Singapore’s health ministry said on Tuesday in a response to questions from Bloomberg News. “Studies are ongoing to get a more complete understanding of these variants and we will adjust our strategies as more information is made available.”

Singapore is a rare example of a country that sequences all its COVID-19 cases and its data provides the most thorough glimpse yet of how the delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, spreads more rapidly. The strain has been identified in more than 60 countries over the past six months since its discovery in India, and concerns are growing that it may extend the pandemic in some places.

A spike in infections in the UK, fueled by the variant, has prompted Britain to reconsider plans for a total reopening later this month, despite a large vaccine uptake among its population.

Delta has also been linked to unusual symptoms like hearing loss and blood clots leading to gangrene, suggesting its impact may be more severe than other strains. In England and Scotland, early evidence suggests it carries a higher risk of hospitalization.

Singapore reacted aggressively to the flareup linked to the variant by barring visitors from India in April and extending quarantines at government-designated facilities. It has also limited gatherings to two people, moved school lessons online and barred dining-in last month to slow spread.

The country’s authorities only found four locally transmitted coronavirus infections on Tuesday, extending a streak of low daily counts since the start of the week. Yet only one of the four cases was linked to earlier infections while three were untraceable, showing the difficulty faced in completely eradicating the recent outbreak.

The decline in cases comes ahead of a possible easing of restrictions after June 13. Meanwhile, the pace of Singapore’s immunization drive has been hampered by limited vaccine supplies, with the government stretching out the interval between doses to six to eight weeks in order to cover more people with a first shot. — Bloomberg

South Korea’s land speculation scandal roils ruling party

June 9, 2021 | 6:27 pm

SEOUL — South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party said on Wednesday it was trying to regain public trust by asking 12 lawmakers to leave the party over a property scandal that has alienated voters.

The insider land trading scandal, alongside skyrocketing home prices and deepening inequality, has contributed to President Moon Jae-in’s approval ratings plunging to record lows and his party’s abject defeat in key mayoral elections in April.

Offering a public apology last week, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said 20 people had been arrested and 529 referred to prosecutors, including 90 members of the parliament and high-level and local government officials, as part of an intra-agency investigation.

And on Tuesday, the ruling party said a state watchdog had found that 12 of its MPs or their families were suspected of unlawful property dealings, and had advised them to withdraw their membership.

Six agreed to leave saying they would return after clearing their names, while three rejected the request, claiming innocence. The other three said they will cooperate with the investigation, without elaborating.

Many Koreans have expressed disgust over the scandal with the taunt “naeronambul”, which translates to: “If I do it, it’s a romance. If you do it, it’s adultery.”.

Mounting disillusion with the government could threaten Mr. Moon’s efforts to achieve policy goals, and has left the party in need of an image make-over before next year’s presidential election.

Speaking on Wednesday, Democratic Party chairman Song Young-gil said the decision to ask the MPs to leave was not a disciplinary action but a step that had to be taken prior to a formal investigation, which is needed to regain public trust.

“It’s an inevitable measure to relieve people’s distrust over the ‘naeronambul’ attitude and the property issue,” he told a televised meeting. “It’s heartbreaking, but a desperate attempt for change.” — Reuters

Cebu Landmasters tops off residential tower in Cebu IT Park

June 9, 2021 | 5:10 pm

Architect’s perspective courtesy of Cebu Landmasters

Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) and consortium El Camino Developers, Inc., topped off its P3.5 billion high-end residential tower, 38 Park Avenue, in a virtual ceremony on June 8. Located in Metro Cebu’s Cebu IT Park, it is the first phase of the three-phased mixed-use development within a 1.2-hectare property.

The residential condominium evokes New York-inspired living, said Roberto D. Gothong, chief executive officer of project partner Gothong Southern Properties. He added that its location in The Plaza at Park Avenue, a green open retail park, is reminiscent of Fifth Avenue, home to New York’s Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building.

The project was envisioned among friends, said Mr. Gothong, referring to the Gothong, Almario, King, and Soberano families of Cebu. “This was conceived in a walking trip in Europe, along the Camino trail in Santiago de Compostela,” Mr. Gothong said at the virtual event. “Nature can really work wonders to the imagination.”

The tower has 38 residential floors housing 764 units, broken down as follows: 459 studio units, 230 one-bedroom units, 56 two-bedroom units, 11 three-bedroom units, and 8 penthouse units. All units have been laid out around an atrium that infuses the entire development with light, according to top architectural firm Aidea Philippines and international design consultant Callison RTKL. Among the features are a Sky Club on the 26th and 28th floors, eight elevators, three-level basement parking, and a high-ceilinged lobby each in the east and west wings.

“As of today, we are 97% sold,” said Jose Franco B. Soberano, director, executive vice president, and chief operating officer of CLI, at the same event. “There are less than 30 units available left.”

When the pandemic struck, construction was at the 22nd floor. Work continued throughout the various lockdowns and strict compliance to health and safety protocols — including on-site medical support — resulted in zero coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. The third-party construction workers were also provided meals, accommodation, and weekly allowances on top of daily wages.

Mr. Soberano added that early investors have already been rewarded, as the value of the property has risen to P200,000 per square meter from the pre-selling price of less than P120,000. “We are targeting to turn over the first batch of units by the end of this year,” he said. “The Cebu property market remains to be one of the bright spots in the region with sustained demand and highly resilient property values.” — Patricia B. Mirasol

Indigenous farmers share produce with Manila’s community pantries

June 9, 2021 | 4:56 pm

Greenpeace-Indigenous-farmer — Image courtesy of Basilio Sepe/Greenpeace

The Dumagat Remontado, the indigenous people of Daraitan, Rizal, have been sharing their produce to 10 of Manila’s community pantries since they started sprouting in the capital mid-April.

The response is a show of solidarity with the urban poor and a sign of the broken food system, said Rhea Jane Pescador-Mallari, Greenpeace Southeast Asia–Philippines campaigner.

Greenpeace Philippines, through the agricultural advocacy group PAKISAMA (Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka), has been supporting the initiative by facilitating the supply, delivery, and distribution of the Dumagat IPs’ produce.

“Greenpeace supports this initiative in order to show a proof of concept on the viability and benefits of shorter value chains, by linking community pantries with indigenous peoples, local ecological farmers, and the urban poor,” she told BusinessWorld in an e-mail interview.

Among the pantries that source some of their supplies from the Dumagat Remontado farmers are those in Pinagbuhatan, Pasig; Tondo; West Crame, San Juan; as well as the zero-waste Mother Earth Foundation pantry in Tinajeros, Malabon. All produce is packaged and distributed in reusable bags.

The first community pantry was set up in Maginhawa Street, Quezon City, this April. On a cart piled with vegetables, eggs, and non-food items was a cardboard sign with the message, “Maginhawa Community Pantry. Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan” (Give what you can, take what you need).” The idea soon spread and inspired similar pantries all over the country and in Timor-Leste.

“PAKISAMA saw this as an opportunity to show that farmers are essential to our way of life. They saw how this initiative can challenge the status quo on how our food systems work where community pantries can directly source out from farmers,” said Ms. Mallari.

While Greenpeace believes that the emergence of community pantries reflects the inadequacies of government, not all support this view. “And I beg to disagree that community pantries reflect the inadequacies of government. All over the world, many governments were not prepared for COVID-19, and are presently hard pressed to sufficiently cover all the needs of their people,” said BusinessWorld columnist Marvin A. Tort in a recent Opinion piece. — Patricia B. Mirasol

Microsoft launches first cybersecurity council in Asia Pacific

June 9, 2021 | 4:04 pm

Microsoft launched the first Asia-Pacific cybersecurity council to build a strong, coordinated response against cybercrime in the region.

The Asia Pacific Public Sector Cyber Security Executive Council consists of 15 policy makers from seven countries, including the Philippines, who will boost public-private partnerships in cybersecurity, address cyber threats, and share solutions.

“Cybersecurity is an important national agenda that cannot rely solely on the back of an IT (information technology) team,” said Dato’ Ts. Dr. Haji Amirudin Abdul Wahab, chief executive officer of CyberSecurity Malaysia and one of the council’s founding members, during a cybersecurity panel in the Microsoft APAC Public Sector Summit this May.

Cybercrime causes trillions of dollars in financial losses and operational impacts to individual and business victims. According to Microsoft’s Security Endpoint Threat Report in 2019, the Asia-Pacific region experienced malware attacks 1.6 times higher and ransomware attacks 1.7 times higher than the rest of the world.

In the Philippines, internet security firm Kaspersky reported that ransomware attacks on small and medium businesses in the declined by 15.17% in 2020; it qualified, however, that the dip was due to a shift to quality rather than quantity — meaning more aggressive and targeted attacks.

“The collective intelligence amongst the APAC nations is paramount to jointly share best practices and strategies that will enable us to resolve cybersecurity challenges at a faster pace and a more proactive manner,” said ChangHee Yun, a principal researcher of Korea’s National Information Society Agency. The coalition, he added, can help members get ahead of the perpetrators and establish higher standards for the cybersecurity eco-system.

A forum for government agencies, state leaders, and cybersecurity industry advisors will allow the council to share their experiences and knowledge relating to cyber threats. Microsoft said that this will build on existing efforts to strengthen partnerships through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

TransUnion Finds the Industry with the Largest Increase in Suspected Digital Fraud Attempts is Financial Services

June 9, 2021 | 3:50 pm

As more consumers go online for banking and other financial transactions, new research from TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) found that fraudsters are ramping up their efforts in the financial services industry. When comparing the last four months of 2020 (Sept. 1 – Dec. 31) and the first four months of 2021 (Jan. 1 – May 1), the company found the percentage of suspected digital fraud attempts[1] coming from the Philippines in financial services increased 50%, the highest among all industries analyzed. Globally, the rate of digital financial services fraud attempts increased 149%.

Across industries, the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts globally rose 24% when comparing the first four months of 2021 with the last four months of 2020. The percentage of digital fraud attempts coming from the Philippines increased 19% during the same time period.

TransUnion monitors digital fraud attempts reported by businesses in varied industries such as communities, financial services, gambling, gaming, retail, and telecommunications, among others. The conclusions are based on intelligence from billions of transactions and more than 40,000 websites and apps contained in its flagship identity proofing, risk-based authentication and fraud analytics solution suite – TransUnion TruValidate™.

“The rate of fraud attempts was up globally and especially in the financial services industry because fraudsters understand this is where the most high-value transactions are taking place. While this industry is traditionally known for in-person transactions, fraudsters have recognized its rapid digital acceleration and are trying to capitalize,” said TransUnion Philippines President and CEO Pia Arellano. “We are seeing more financial services organizations implement fraud prevention solutions with some success, though our findings make it clear that this is not the time to relax. As the economy begins to open up and perform better, businesses need to do even more to ensure they are providing a secure marketplace that offers friction-right experiences to consumers.”

Examining Fraud Types and Their Impact on Industries

TransUnion analyzed industries with the highest increases and declines in the percent of suspected digital fraud attempts against them, comparing the periods of Sept. 1-Dec. 31, 2020 and Jan. 1-May 1, 2021.

Top Suspected Digital Fraud Rate Attempt Increases and Declines by Industry

Industry	Suspected Fraud Percentage Change Coming from the Philippines	Top Type of Fraud Globally
*Largest Percentage Increases*
Financial Services	50.39%	True Identity Theft
Travel & Leisure	31.50%	Credit Card Fraud
Communities (online dating, forums, etc.)	10.16%	Profile Misrepresentation
*Largest Percentage Declines*
Logistics	-60.50%	Shipping Fraud
Telecommunications	-28.60%	True Identity Theft
Retail	-27.42%	Promotion Abuse

Interestingly, the telecommunications and logistics industries recorded the two largest declines during this period. TransUnion’s March 2021 assessment, which analyzed the pre- and post-pandemic declaration periods (March 11, 2019-March 10, 2020 and March 11, 2020-March 10, 2021), found the opposite with telecommunications and logistics having the two largest suspected digital fraud rate increases between the periods respectively. Financial services had the third highest increase in the rate of suspected digital fraud during the March analysis, and jumped to the top spot this time.

TransUnion defines true identity theft, the top type of digital fraud in financial services, as the consumer using a stolen identity (from a victim who is a real person) to commit fraud. The second and third type of digital fraud most reported by TransUnion financial services customers are first-party application fraud and account takeover, respectively.

First-party application fraud is when a consumer refuses to repay legitimately incurred debts and/or falsely claims to be a victim of identity fraud to evade debt. Account takeover is when someone other than the owner of an account uses the account without permission, indicating that the account has been maliciously compromised.

“An interesting dynamic is playing out where we are seeing other industries facing far fewer suspected fraud attempts than what has been observed in financial services. In some cases, as in logistics and retail, we are seeing a decline in the rate of such fraud attempts,” said Arellano. “The key takeaway for businesses is that fraudsters do not treat every industry equally. They often pick and choose an industry to focus on based on the time of year or what businesses are seeing more transactional activity. For example, in the Philippines, the rate of suspected digital fraud attempts originating from it against online communities like dating sites and forums increased by 10% whereas the global average decreased 4%.At times, fraud attempts are conducted at random simply to determine if businesses are prepared to meet their challenges. In this critical time, it pays to be one step ahead.”

More information about TransUnion’s insights and solutions can be found here.

[1] The percent or rate of suspected or risky fraudulent digital transaction attempts are those that TransUnion’s customers either denied or reviewed due to fraudulent indicators compared to all transactions it assessed for fraud

As AI-based loan apps boom in India, some borrowers miss out

June 9, 2021 | 3:33 pm

As the founder of a consumer rights non-profit in India, Karnav Shah is used to seeing sharp practices and disgruntled customers. But even he has been surprised by the sheer volume of complaints against digital lenders in recent years.

While most of the grievances are about unauthorized lending platforms misusing borrowers’ data or harassing them for missed payments, others relate to high interest rates or loan requests that were rejected without explanation, Mr. Shah said.

“These are not like traditional banks, where you can talk to the manager or file a complaint with the head office. There is no transparency, and no one to ask for remedy,” said Mr. Shah, founder of JivanamAsteya.

“It is hurting young people starting off in their lives — a loan being rejected can result in a low credit score, which will adversely affect bigger financial events later on,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Hundreds of mobile lending apps have mushroomed in India as smartphone use surged and the government encouraged digitization in banking, with financial technology (fintech) firms rushing to fill the gap in access to loans.

Unsecured loan apps, which promise quick loans even to those without a credit history or collateral, have been criticized for high lending rates, short repayment terms, as well as aggressive recovery methods and misuse of customer data.

At the same time, their use of algorithms to gauge the creditworthiness of first-time borrowers disproportionately excludes women and other traditionally marginalized groups, analysts say.

“Credit scoring systems were intended to reduce the subjectivity in loan approvals by decreasing the role of a loan officer’s discretion on lending decisions,” said Shehnaz Ahmed, fintech lead at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in Delhi.

“However, since alternative credit scoring systems employ thousands of data points and complex models, they could potentially be used to mask discriminatory policies and may also perpetuate existing forms of discrimination,” she said.

NEW TO CREDIT
Globally, about 1.7 billion people do not have a bank account, leaving them vulnerable to loan sharks and at risk of being excluded from vital government and welfare benefits, which are increasingly dispersed by electronic means.

Nearly 80% of Indians do now have a bank account, partly as a result of the government’s financial inclusion policies, but young people and the poor often lack the formal credit histories that lenders use to gauge an applicant’s creditworthiness.

Almost a quarter of loan enquiries every month are from people with no credit history, according to TransUnion CIBIL, a company that generates credit scores.

Authorities have backed the use of AI for creating credit scores for so-called new to credit consumers, who account for about 60% of motorbike loans and more than a third of mortgages.

Algorithms help assess the creditworthiness of first-time borrowers by scanning their social media footprint, digital payments data, number of contacts and calling patterns.

TransUnion CIBIL recently launched an algorithm that has “mapped the credit data of similar subjects that do have a credit history and whose information is comparable,” said Harshala Chandorkar, the firm’s chief operating officer.

Women made up about 28% of retail borrowers in India last year, up three percentage points from 2014, and have a slightly higher average CIBIL score than men, she said, without answering a question about the risk of discrimination from algorithms.

CreditVidya, a credit information firm, uses an artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithm that taps “over 10,000 data points” to calculate its scores.

“A clear, unambiguous consent screen that articulates what data is collected and the purpose for which it will be used is displayed to the user to take his or her consent,” it said.

EarlySalary, which says its mobile lending app has garnered more than 10 million downloads, uses an algorithm that collects text and browsing history, and information from social media platforms including Facebook and LinkedIn.

People who do not have a substantial social media presence could be at a disadvantage from such techniques, said Ahmed, adding that many online lending platforms provide little information on how they rate creditworthiness.

“There is always an element of subjectivity in determining creditworthiness. However, this is heightened in the case of alternative credit scoring models that rely on several data points for assessing creditworthiness,” she said.

ARBITRARY PRACTICES
Personal lending apps in India — which are mainly intermediaries connecting borrowers with lending institutions — fall in a regulatory grey zone now.

A long-delayed Personal Data Protection Bill under discussion by lawmakers would have conditions for requiring and storing personal data, and penalties for misuse of such data.

Authorized lending platforms are advised to engage in data capture with the informed consent of the customer, and publish detailed terms and conditions, said Satyam Kumar, a member of lobby group Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE).

“Regular audits and internal checks of the lending process are done to ensure no discrimination on the basis of gender or religion is done manually or via machine-based analysis,” he said.

India’s central bank has said it will draw up a regulatory framework that “supports innovation while ensuring data security, privacy, confidentiality and consumer protection.”

That will help boost the value of digital lending to $1 trillion in 2023, according to Boston Consulting Group.

Digital lending will still skew towards historically privileged groups, with credit scoring systems also allocating loans more often to men than women in India, said Tarunima Prabhakar, a research fellow at Carnegie India.

If an algorithm evaluates credit scores based on the number of contacts on a phone, it would likely find men more creditworthy as Indian men have greater social mobility than women.

So women may face loan rejections or higher interest rates.

“There is almost no transparency as to how these scores are reached,” she said.

Digital lenders justify the secrecy on grounds of competitive advantage, but there needs to be some clarification, including explanations when loans are rejected, she added.

“If these platforms make it easier for men but not women to start small businesses, it might reduce women’s agency in an already asymmetric power dynamic,” Ms. Prabhakar said.

“In the absence of strong monitoring and institutions, alternative lending may perpetuate the same arbitrary lending practices of informal credit markets that they aim to resolve.” — Rina Chandran/Thomson Reuters Foundation

Pandemic propels Auckland to top of EIU’s most livable cities ranking

June 9, 2021 | 2:52 pm

VIENNA — The coronavirus pandemic has shaken up the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) annual ranking of most livable cities, propelling Auckland to first place, replacing Vienna, which crashed out of the top 10 as the island nations of New Zealand, Australia, and Japan fared best.

The Austrian capital had led the list since 2018 and for years ran neck and neck with Melbourne at the top of the survey of 140 urban centers. New Zealand’s elimination of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) within its borders through lockdown measures helped by its geographic isolation, however, gave its cities a big boost.

“New Zealand’s tough lockdown allowed their society to reopen and enabled citizens of cities like Auckland and Wellington to enjoy a lifestyle that looked similar to pre-pandemic life,” the EIU said in a statement.

The EIU generally does not make the full ranking public. The last time Auckland was in the top 10 was in 2017, when it came eighth, a position Melbourne shared with Geneva this year. Vienna fell to 12th.

Illustrating New Zealand’s advantage this year, Wellington also entered the top 10. It came fourth behind Osaka, which rose two spots to second place, and Adelaide, which leapfrogged its compatriots Sydney and Melbourne to third place from 10th.

The latest ranking is from 2019 as last year’s was canceled.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on global livability,” the EIU said.

“Cities across the world are now much less livable than they were before the pandemic began, and we’ve seen that regions such as Europe have been hit particularly hard.”

The European Union struggled to get its vaccination campaign off the ground and many member states including Austria imposed more lockdowns than they had hoped to, hurting their cities’ scores in the measure of “culture and environment.” The four other categories assessed are stability, healthcare, education and infrastructure. — Reuters

Biden Asia chief ‘relatively confident’ on billion vaccine timing despite India crisis

June 9, 2021 | 2:37 pm

WASHINGTON — President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s Indo-Pacific policy chief said on Tuesday he was “relatively confident” a target for the production of a billion vaccine doses for the region by the end of 2022 would be met, despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis in India, where they are due to be made.

Asked at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security think tank if he expected a delay in the four-nation plan, which was announced at the White House in March with great fanfare, Kurt Campbell said Washington had been in close consultation with India and others involved in the project.

“Obviously, this is an extremely difficult period for Indian friends. The United States has tried to stand with Delhi and to bring others, both in the private and public sector, to support them,” he said.

“Our discussions with both our partners in the private sector, and also in government, suggest that we are — knock on wood — still on track for 2022.”

“I think we’re feeling relatively confident as we head in to 2022,” he added, while stressing that across Asia and the world even countries that did well in handling the virus were facing outbreaks due to new strains.

“I think we understand, the only way to be effective, to counter this, is through vaccine diplomacy. We’re trying to step that up more generally,” he said.

The so-called Quad grouping of the United States, India, Japan, and Australia agreed at a March summit that Indian drugmaker Biological E. Ltd would produce at least a billion vaccine doses by the end of 2022 that would go to Southeast Asian countries, elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, and beyond.

US officials said that under the plan the United States and Japan would help Indian manufacturing of vaccines for US drugmakers Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson.

India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, was subsequently hit by a catastrophic wave of infections and halted vaccine exports amid intense criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a domestic vaccine rollout that covered less than 5% of an estimated adult population of 950 million.

Indian government sources told Reuters in May India was unlikely to resume major exports of vaccines until at least October. On Tuesday, Indian officials and health experts welcomed a government plan to give free shots to all adults, but cautioned that vaccinations must be accelerated to prevent new surges in infections. — Reuters

Pfizer to test COVID-19 vaccine in larger group of children below 12

June 9, 2021 | 1:29 pm

800px-Pfizer-BioNTech_COVID-19_vaccine_(2020)_C — Image via US Secretary of Defense/CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons

Pfizer Inc. said on Tuesday it will begin testing its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine in a larger group of children under age 12 after selecting a lower dose of the shot in an earlier stage of the trial.

The study will enroll up to 4,500 children at more than 90 clinical sites in the United States, Finland, Poland and Spain, the company said.

Based on safety, tolerability and the immune response generated by 144 children in a phase I study of the two-dose shot, Pfizer said it will test a dose of 10 micrograms in children between 5 and 11 years of age, and 3 micrograms for the age group of 6 months to 5.

A Pfizer spokesperson said the company expects data from 5- to 11-year-olds in September and would likely ask regulators for emergency use authorization later that month. Data for children 2 to 5 years old could arrive soon after that, he said.

Pfizer expects to have data from the 6-month to 2-year-old age group sometime in October or November.

The vaccine — made by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SA — has been authorized for use in children as young as 12 in Europe, the United States and Canada. They receive the same dose as adults: 30 micrograms.

Nearly 7 million teens have received at least one dose of the vaccine in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Inoculating children and young people is considered a critical step toward reaching “herd immunity” and taming the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, scientists in the United States and elsewhere are studying the possibility of a link between heart inflammation and mRNA vaccines, particularly in young men. Both Pfizer and Moderna Inc.’s vaccines are mRNA shots.

Israel’s Health Ministry said last week it had found the small number of myocarditis cases observed mainly in young men who received the Pfizer vaccine there were probably linked to their vaccination. The cases were generally mild and did not last long.

Pfizer has said it is aware of the Israeli observations of myocarditis and that no causal link to its vaccine has been established. — Michael Erman and Ankur Banerjee/Reuters

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