Smile API Weblog

- MANILA, Philippines, November 12, 2021 – CreditEase, a China-based diversified conglomerate with a global footprint; and Plug and Play APAC, a tech-focused venture capital firm, made significant investments in Smile API, a newly-launched information infrastructure startup company in the Philippines opening up new opportunities for financial inclusion among the underbanked and unbanked by means of leveraging on employment data especially among freelancers and gig workers. Both investors backed Smile API seeing great potential in the startup's Application Programming Interface (API) designed to bring wider financial inclusion by interconnecting data from businesses, workers, banks and fintech firms to its digital platform, a first of its kind in the Asia Pacific (APAC) Region. Temporary workers in today's growing gig economy are the target end-users of Smile API like personal shopper, courier delivery person, drivers in the rideshare and food delivery businesses, tasker, pet sitter, to name a few. Kevin Aok, Head of Strategic Investment and M&A from CreditEase, explains why Smile API is eyeing the Philippines first: "We are looking for markets with a higher potential growth rate. Many Filipinos have stable income and the Philippines is largely English-speaking." Ziheng Li, Senior Ventures Analyst at Plug and Play Singapore, shares why Smile API is the right API for the region at this time: "Unlike other global markets such as the US and China, where employer data APIs are common, there is no API or service similar to Smile API in the region." Founded only last April, Smile API as a digital platform sets the stage for Open Finance, which is a more inclusive model than Open Banking. Compared to open banking, open finance solves the problem of accessing primary employment data instead of bank data, bridging the gaps in the gaining of financial products and services by the unbanked, like the gig workers in particular. Smile API CEO Jerome Eger discloses the company continues to build and enhance its information infrastructure since receiving the new capital in June to better serve more clients in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Eger points out, "What we offer becomes not just a win but a win-win-win solution for businesses, their employees, and mostly for third-party providers like banks, financial institutions, and other vendors whose services are made more accessible to potential customers." Eger cites Smile API empowers people to have their own data, and to use that data for their own good. For the end users for example, wallets, loans, insurances, digital bank accounts and many more applications become available through a simple but clear white labeled interface within the client application using the Smile API infrastructure, all while keeping the end user in full control of what data is shared and with whom. According to Eger: "Focusing on employment data enables modern applications with the needed identity, employment and financial information of not just those who have access to banks and financial services, but also those without, catering to a wider range of clients." Smile API for instance helps fast track the loan or financing application process by facilitating approval (or rejection) within just a few seconds. In so doing, Smile API delivers significant value to workers who need to secure financial and/or related services; employers who can recover oper

Applying for a loan or financing, whether it's for a car, a business, a house, etc. is a tedious, time-consuming process that requires the heavy involvement of the applicant, their employer, and the concerned financial institution or vendor. - Top row, from left: Smile API CEO Jerome Eger; Senior Ventures Analyst at Plug and Play Singapore Ziheng Li; Middle row, from left: MoveForward Inc. CEO Johanne Lim; Event host and media personality Mimi Ong; Bottom row: Head of Strategic Investment and M&A from Credit Ease, Kevin Aok. Among the first of its kind in the APAC region, Smile API is a digital platform that fast tracks the loan or financing application process by facilitating approval (or rejection) within just a few seconds. In so doing, Smile API delivers significant value to workers who need to secure financial and/or related services; employers who can recover operational time lost to the cumbersome paper trail; and financial institutions that can experience fast, secure transactions in the many moribund application procedures. During the recent company launch in Manila, Smile API CEO Jerome Eger explains the all-too-common situation that bogs down businesses: "We did a survey and found that on the average, for every 100 employees in any given company, there are three to five requests for certificates of employment per week. A person in HR handles this, and it takes company time that can be better used for other business matters. While they need to do this, this process has no value for the employers." Employee-owned data Eger adds, "What we offer becomes not just a win but a win-win-win solution for businesses, their employees, and mostly for third-party providers like banks, financial institutions, and other vendors whose services are made more accessible to potential customers." Individuals register first through the Smile-API-using companies they regularly deal or interact with. They agree to transmit their encrypted employment data which then passes from their employer through Smile API to the bank or vendor in seconds, when they apply for loans, financing, deferred payment terms, employment, or financial services. It is important to note that this is a one-time transaction. Smile API gets the encrypted data from the employer, and passes it on to the institution or the vendor. It does not hold on to the data afterwards. This process happens in seconds, and the applicant, their employer, and the related banks are spared the loss of unnecessary manhours and effort, as well as the stress that comes with waiting for (or working towards) the approval which may or may not be given. Smile API's platform was conceived from a simple, yet important truth that affects virtually everyone, especially the workforce, without them knowing it. People can never fully control their personal and employee data. Their employment data---the most relevant to financial institutions, vendors, or even potential new employers---will always need to be obtained from and verified by third parties through documentation, like certificates of employment, pay slips, proofs of billing, bank statements, credit card statements, or even academic transcripts of records. Investor funding To escape this cycle of inefficiency, Eger asserts that the individual must realize that "having access to data is a basic right. Your data is very important, as data is the oil of the 21st century. The difference