Institutions on outgrown software
Start with onboarding or collections against your current system, and migrate the loan book only if and when it makes sense.
Built for microfinance
Microfinance software for institutions running thousands of small loans
Microfinance is not retail banking with smaller numbers. The economics are different: thousands of small balances, servicing cost that has to stay under a few dollars per loan, borrowers who cannot produce a utility bill, and collections that only works if it is largely automatic. Bankify is built around those constraints rather than adapted to them.
Part of Bankify Loan Management. Bankify sells four modules — this is one way of using one of them, not a separate product.
Built for cost per loan, not cost per branch
When the average loan is a few hundred dollars, every manual touch matters. The parts of the lifecycle that scale badly — chasing documents, generating schedules, reminding customers, ranking arrears — are the parts Bankify automates first, so headcount does not have to grow with the book.
- Applications captured on messaging channels rather than requiring a branch visit
- Repayment schedules, statements and loan agreements generated rather than assembled
- Routine arrears chasing handled by rules, with agents reserved for the accounts where a conversation changes the outcome
- One customer record across onboarding, lending, accounting and collections
Loan products that match how microfinance actually prices
Microfinance pricing rarely fits a single rate field. A typical product carries a monthly reducing-balance rate, an establishment fee expressed as a percentage with a floor, and an insurance charge — with some of those capitalised into the principal. Bankify treats that as configuration, and the calculation kernel is test-locked against a live institution’s own pricing spreadsheet.
- Multiple interest and fee bands per product, priced as a percentage or a flat amount
- Minimum and maximum fee amounts, so "2.5% or $15, whichever is greater" is a setting
- Four interest methods, including true reducing balance and flat rate
- Fees disclosed, deducted from the disbursement, or capitalised into principal
- Monthly instalments, with terms configured per product
Onboarding customers who will never walk into a branch
The binding constraint in microfinance onboarding is not the form — it is proof. Borrowers frequently cannot produce a utility bill in their own name, and requiring one silently excludes them. Bankify accepts the evidence these customers can actually get, and reads it on arrival so a reviewer starts with a checklist rather than a folder.
- Applications captured over WhatsApp, Messenger, web and mobile
- Proof of address accepts a utility bill, bank statement, lease, employer letter, sworn affidavit, or a councillor’s or headman’s letter
- Documents photographed rather than scanned, and checked on upload
- Checks are advisory — they inform the reviewer and never auto-decline an applicant
- A national ID does not expire; other documents are treated as fresh for 90 days
Collections that works at small-ticket volume
Manually chasing a $200 arrears balance does not pay for itself. Scoring ranks the book so the recoverable money is at the top of the queue, and DPD-triggered strategies handle the routine reminders automatically — with guardrails, because automated collections without limits is a complaints problem waiting to happen.
- Every delinquent account scored daily on days past due, balance utilisation and payment recency
- A queue ranked by expected recovery rather than by risk alone
- Automated reminder sequences over WhatsApp, SMS and email as accounts age
- Opt-out, quiet hours and a daily contact cap applied to every automated message
- Promise-to-pay captured and reconciled against actual payments
Multi-currency accounting in unstable currency environments
Institutions in high-inflation or dual-currency markets cannot run a single-currency ledger and translate at the end. Bankify records the rate that applied to each posting alongside both amounts, so a historical entry reads back correctly rather than being re-translated at today’s rate.
- Accounts, products and the ledger share one currency catalog
- Each cross-currency posting stores both amounts and the rate applied
- Rates held per institution with an effective timestamp and a source
- Genuine double-entry: debits equal credits or the journal does not commit
- Reconciliation as a scheduled run with typed exceptions
Lending to businesses, not only individuals
Most microfinance institutions eventually lend to small businesses, which is a different KYC problem: the borrower is a company, and a person signs on its behalf. Bankify models the business as its own entity with a representative link that has to be verified before an application can be approved.
- The business is a distinct entity, not a customer record with a company name
- A representative is linked to the business and must be verified before approval
- Corporate document pack including registration filings, certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles, tax clearance and a borrowing resolution
- Per-director identity and proof of residence
- Disbursement to the company’s own bank account
Adopt a module at a time, keep the system you have
Replatforming a live loan book is the reason most microfinance institutions stay on software they have outgrown. Two of the four modules are built to run against a third-party system, so the first step does not have to be a migration.
- Digital Onboarding forwards approved applications into your existing loan system
- Collection Intelligence runs against a book synced by integration or imported from CSV
- Per-institution field and column mappings, so your data does not have to be reshaped first
- Core Banking is separately licensed — the loan sub-ledger works without it
- Modules are enabled per institution rather than sold as an all-or-nothing suite
Market fit you can see in the product
Bankify was built with microfinance institutions in Southern Africa, and the detail shows in places generic software gets wrong. That experience generalises — the same problems appear wherever borrowers are underbanked and currencies are unstable — but the specifics are what tell you the software has met a real loan book.
- A councillor’s or headman’s letter accepted as proof of address
- Multi-currency support including local currencies alongside USD
- Corporate filings modelled as the local registry actually issues them
- Salary-backed lending products with capitalised establishment and insurance fees
- Calculation kernel verified against a production institution’s own pricing spreadsheet
Who it’s for
Deposit-taking microfinance institutions
A real double-entry ledger with multi-currency accounts, without a full core banking programme.
Credit-only lenders
Product configuration, servicing and collections for a high-volume book of small loans.
Where this fits in the platform
Product configuration, schedules, arrears and restructuring are covered in detail on loan management software.
For institutions without a branch network, loan onboarding over WhatsApp is usually the fastest route to applications.
Recovering small balances economically is covered on loan collection software.
Deposit-taking institutions should also read core banking software, which is where multi-currency accounting is handled.
Frequently asked questions
What makes Bankify microfinance software rather than general lending software?
The constraints it is built around: servicing cost per loan, borrowers who cannot produce conventional proof of address, multi-currency accounting in unstable environments, and collections that has to be largely automatic to be worth doing on small balances. Those shaped the product rather than being configured into it afterwards.
Do we have to migrate our existing loan book to use Bankify?
No. Digital Onboarding forwards approved applications into the loan system you already run, and Collection Intelligence works against a book synced by integration or imported from CSV. Many institutions adopt one of those first and only consider moving the loan book later.
Can Bankify handle a fee like "2.5% or $15, whichever is greater"?
Yes — that is configuration, not customisation. Fee bands can be priced as a percentage or a flat amount and carry their own minimum and maximum, and each band is disclosed only, deducted from the disbursement, or capitalised into principal.
Does Bankify support multiple currencies?
Yes, on a shared currency catalog across accounts, products and the ledger. Cross-currency postings store the amount in the account’s currency, the reporting-currency equivalent and the rate applied, so historical entries read back at the rate that actually applied.
Can we lend to small businesses as well as individuals?
Yes. A business is modelled as its own entity with a representative who must be verified before an application can be approved, and the corporate document pack covers registration filings, incorporation documents, tax clearance, a borrowing resolution and per-director identity.
How do borrowers without a utility bill prove their address?
The accepted list includes a bank or building-society statement, a lease, an employer letter, a sworn affidavit, and a councillor’s or headman’s letter, alongside utility bills. Restricting proof of address to utility bills excludes a large share of microfinance borrowers.
The rest of the platform
Digital Onboarding
Paperless applications, automated KYC checks, and instant handoff into lending.
Loan Management
Configurable products, automated disbursement, and the full loan lifecycle in one book.
Core Banking
Double-entry ledger, multi-currency accounts, and real-time reconciliation at the core.
Collection Intelligence
Risk-scored queues, automated recovery strategies, and promise-to-pay tracking.
Want to see this against your own loan book?
Talk to a product specialist about which modules fit your institution today.