Tink's Tasha Chouhan on Why Traditional Lending Models Don't Work - FF News

Why It Matters

The discussion underscores that lenders must adopt open‑banking data or partner with fintechs to stay competitive, while Visa’s backing accelerates Tink’s ability to deliver real‑time, sustainable credit solutions across Europe.

Key Takeaways

• Visa acquisition accelerates Tink’s global expansion and data‑driven services
• Traditional lending models fail amid cost‑of‑living, inflation, and mortgage crises
• Open banking provides real‑time income and expense data for credit decisions
• Fintechs’ cloud‑native architecture enables faster onboarding and accurate KYC
• Tink plans to expand lending, payments, and sustainability analytics

Summary

In a recent FF News interview, Tasha Chouhan, UK and Ireland Banking and Lending Director at Tink, explained how the Visa acquisition positions the European open‑banking platform to scale its data‑driven financial services globally. She highlighted that traditional, manual lending processes are increasingly misaligned with today’s economic pressures, including the cost‑of‑living squeeze, rising inflation, and the UK mortgage crunch, as well as the surge in buy‑now‑pay‑later products.

Chouhan’s research, based on conversations with 360 senior finance executives across Europe, shows lenders need real‑time transaction data to assess affordability, creditworthiness, and evolving risk profiles. Open banking can deliver continuous income and expenditure insights, enabling more accurate underwriting than legacy models that rely on static snapshots.

She cited Tink’s partnership with American Express across eight European markets as a concrete example: using open‑banking data to verify income, analyze payment frequency and size, and streamline credit‑card applications. Fintechs’ cloud‑native, micro‑service architectures give them a speed and flexibility advantage, while traditional banks can partner to modernize onboarding, KYC, and acquisition.

Looking ahead, Tink will focus on three pillars—enhanced lending models, diversified open‑banking payments, and sustainability analytics such as carbon‑tracking linked to transactions. The move signals a broader industry shift toward faster, data‑rich, and environmentally aware financial products.

Original Description

At Sibos 2022, we talk to Tasha Chouhan, the UK & IE Banking Sales Director of the open banking platform, Tink, about the future of lending models and how fintechs play an invaluable role in that.

According to Tink's recent report, BNPL has overtaken traditional forms of debt. For Chouhan, this has changed the way consumers engage with debt - FIs can use new technologies in open banking to build a more robust picture of creditworthiness and guarantee access to finance.

#banking #openbanking #fintech