Altron FinTech Short-term Credit Impact (AFSCI) Index - Quarter 3 2021

Johannesburg, 6 April 2022: We are proud to announce the release of the results of the third Altron FinTech Short-term Credit Impact (AFSCI) Index, which tracks the impact of short-term credit extension on the South African economy on a quarterly basis.

The index is produced independently by economist Keith Lockwood, and provides a valuable barometer of the financial health of a vulnerable, and often neglected, portion of South Africa’s population.

It is also intended to provide regulators, policy makers, statisticians and Altron FinTech’s customers with a reliable quarterly benchmark for the entire industry and how it tends to behave given certain economic pressure points.

“Given that in South Africa there is almost no measurement of how the informal economy contributes to the GDP, in sponsoring the index, we are attempting to provide an analysis and understanding of this contribution,” says Altron FinTech CEO, Johan Gellatly.

The results for the third quarter of 2021 show that short-term lending was still heavily impacted by COVID-19. While the book value of total consumer credit extended increased by 1.2% to R2.08 trillion (from R2.05 trillion in the second quarter of 2021), the short-term lending segment of this market shrank by 5.5%.

This is an important indicator that this segment of the population struggled to access credit markets, which has the potential to support low-income and marginalised households, as well as survivalist, start-up and micro-businesses.

Thanks to the index, Altron FinTech, which provides technology platforms to registered short-term credit providers, has been able to collect data that facilitates a deeper understanding of the market its customers serve so that it can ensure its platforms are fit-for-purpose.

• November 2021
• August 2021