AsiaCollect is changing the way you think about debt collection

During the 13 years he spent in banking, Tomasz Borowski’s career spanned operations, risk management, and product management, where he also witnessed the brutality and unprofessional methods that conventional debt collection agencies adopted to retrieve outstanding balances.

Photo credit: AsiaCollect

He observed the same thing when he moved to Ukraine in 2005 to continue his banking career. He did his own research on alternative methods and came to know about two digital debt collection companies – US-based TrueAccord and Polish debt collection agency Kruk SA – both worth over a billion US dollars today.

“I decided to move to Southeast Asia and began exploring the market here. It was obvious to me that the situation here was similar to Ukraine. I decided to utilize my experience in finance and create a professional credit management services company to help change this market,” Borowski told KrAsia.

In 2016, Borowski launched his company AsiaCollect in Vietnam, aiming to change the norms surrounding debt collection in Asia.

Debt collecting method: Technology over coercion

Borowski’s first challenge was to convince financial institutions that outsourcing non-performing loan (NPL) collection to their startup would not create a reputational issue for these institutions. “We had to convince them that we could collect debt without threatening people, that they could rely on our professional and efficient service,” he explained.

Today, the company is headquartered in Singapore and serves three markets in Asia, namely Indonesia, Vietnam, and India. According to Borowski, the company manages over 250,000 NPLs for clients in these markets.

AsiaCollect helps bank and non-bank lenders to recover their NPLs by contacting debtors via automatically generated SMS, interactive voice recordings, and predictive dialing systems. “We can do this with around 90 call center operators in those three markets. Most of our processes are fully automated, so we don’t really rely on the operator calling the debtors. We rather rely on the automated processes we are using or automated campaigns,” he said.

The company uses AI and machine learning to profile debtors. For example, it utilizes speech recognition technology to create profiles of debtors. The company’s system is able to recognize the language that debtors employ, including their tone and expressions. It generates profiles that help operators identify positive or aggressive debtors.

AsiaCollect chief sales officer and Indonesia country manager Guillermo Martin provided some comparisons between conventional debt collection and AsiaCollect’s methods: “A typical debt collection agency in these markets involves greenfield collectors, a person looking scary and being aggressive, to the extent of carrying weapons on a motorcycle. This person can visit a maximum of four debtors a day in places like Jakarta in Indonesia or Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Our operators, meanwhile, can make 200 collector calls per day.”

According to Martin, AsiaCollect needs about one-third of the number of agents that conventional agencies employ for the same volume of debt collection. For instance, one agent can handle up to 1,000 cases in less than 180 DPD (days past due) portfolios and 2,000 cases for more than 180 DPD, he said.

“In conventional debt collection agencies, it is about 500 cases per agent in a call center and 200 cases per agent for field collection. For us, up to 30% of the amount collected comes from automation, with zero agent interaction,” he said.

Borowski added that the success rate for recovery differs depending on the type of cases they work with.

“With AI and automation, we collect either more or the same with less operational costs involved. We have fewer agents but more SMS and interactive voice response. A simple example – for every dollar collected, 15 cents is the cost on average,” he added.

Different markets, different challenges

The changing debt collection market

Fundraising and future plans