Trusting Social Philippines has integrated its artificial intelligence-powered telecommunications credit scoring system into the loan assessment platform of microfinance company Datung to expand financing access for Filipino microentrepreneurs without formal borrowing histories.
Announced Nov. 4, the partnership covers unsecured personal loans and microfinance, using alternative credit scoring to assess applicants who may lack the financial statements and banking records traditionally required by lenders.
The integration allows Datung to process loan applications in minutes by incorporating behavioral data into its underwriting system, according to the companies.
The partnership comes amid continued growth in small businesses and persistent gaps in access to financing. The Department of Trade and Industry recorded nearly 850,000 business name registrations in the first eight months of 2026, an 8% increase year on year. Of these, 726,386 were new registrations.
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) accounted for 99.63% of the Philippines’ 1.24 million registered businesses in 2024 and generated about two-thirds of employment, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
However, MSME loans account for less than 5% of the banking system’s total loan portfolio, based on the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data cited by the companies. This is below the 10% benchmark under the Magna Carta for MSMEs.
“Without a formal bank history, new businesses are usually locked out from day one,” said Johnny Escaler, chief executive officer of Trusting Social Philippines.
“But having no paper trail doesn’t mean someone isn’t reliable. Partnering with Datung turns that daily track record into a usable score they need to back deserving small business owners who don’t have formal credit histories,” he said.
Alternative data supplements loan assessments
Instead of relying solely on financial statements, Trusting Social’s credit scoring models analyze behavioral signals, including payment consistency, activity stability and patterns developed over time.
The system generates a score within seconds, which Datung’s underwriting engine uses alongside other information to assess loan applications.
Datung CEO Kasper Abildgaard Svendsen said its AI agents combine alternative data, e-wallet cash flows and information gathered by field officers to build a borrower profile.
“We think of underwriting as a learning system, not a checklist,” Svendsen said. He added that repayment records feed back into the company’s models, while Trusting Social’s telecommunications-based score provides another source of information for lending decisions.
Datung COO Charan Uttamchandani said the technology would complement, rather than replace, the company’s group lending model and field operations.
“The scoring does not replace any of that. It points us toward more of the people worth visiting,” Uttamchandani said.
Borrowers approved through the system can also begin establishing formal repayment histories from their first loans, potentially giving them records that other financial institutions can use when assessing future applications.
Trusting Social has operated in the Philippines since 2019 and has scored more than 110 million Filipinos, according to the company. Its solutions are used by more than 200 financial institutions across Asia.
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