AI-Powered Recovery Pilot Yields ₦69m for VeendHQ

Nigerian fintech company VeendHQ has reported recovering ₦69 million from a portfolio of delinquent loans valued at ₦172.5 million through a pilot programme powered by its artificial intelligence platform, Vida AI.

The company said the loans involved in the pilot were more than 90 days overdue and that the exercise achieved a recovery rate of 40 per cent.

According to VeendHQ, the pilot was designed to test the effectiveness of artificial intelligence in supporting loan recovery and portfolio management at a time when lenders are facing increasing pressure to improve repayment performance while managing operational costs and risks associated with overdue loans.

The company stated that the recovery rate exceeded what it described as traditional recovery benchmarks, noting that a five per cent recovery rate on a similar loan portfolio would amount to approximately ₦8.6 million.

Speaking on the development, VeendHQ Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Olufemi Olanipekun, said lenders face significant challenges after loan disbursement, particularly in monitoring repayments and recovering overdue debts.

“Credit access is only one side of lending. The bigger challenge for many lenders is what happens after disbursement,” he said, adding that Vida AI was designed to support decision-making across the credit lifecycle, including loan approval, repayment and recovery.

VeendHQ said Vida AI is an artificial intelligence-powered platform developed to support lenders, merchants and financial institutions in areas such as credit assessment, identity verification, repayment collection and loan management.

The company explained that the platform’s recovery workflow allows lenders to upload records of overdue loans, verify borrower information, assess repayment capacity and initiate automated recovery actions.

According to VeendHQ, the technology is intended to provide lenders with greater visibility into loan performance after disbursement and enable recovery teams to prioritise delinquent accounts more effectively.

The company noted that delinquent loans remain a major challenge for lenders, particularly when repayments are overdue by between 60 and 90 days or more, as recovery efforts often become more difficult and costly.

Olanipekun said improved recovery systems could encourage lenders to maintain credit availability by helping them manage risks more effectively.

“If lenders cannot recover efficiently, they become more conservative with lending. That affects consumers, small businesses and the wider credit market,” he said.

VeendHQ said the recovery solution could be relevant for banks, microfinance institutions, digital lenders, cooperatives and merchants managing overdue loan portfolios. The company added that it plans to further enhance the recovery capabilities of Vida AI as demand for technology-driven credit management solutions grows.

Industry stakeholders have increasingly highlighted the importance of strengthening loan recovery mechanisms as credit markets expand across Nigeria and other African countries.