Go Tech, You Can't Bribe A Computer

Go Tech, You Can't Bribe A Computer

If you were old enough to have a bank account in the 1980s – and desperate enough to have tried to borrow money from a Kenyan bank back then – you will no doubt have your own horror story of what you had to go through.
In those days, decisions on loans were made by branch managers, who were invariably middle-aged men, with over 20 years’ experience in the banking sector. And their understanding of their role, when it came to loan applications, was that they were gods, and as such to be approached on bended knee by all those who sought their assistance.
Needless to say, there were subsequently all kinds of rumours about corrupt bank managers and what percentage they expected of every loan they gave out. For their decisions were often very arbitrary, and they personally had a life-and-death influence over the fate of small businesses, thus creating a more or less perfect environment for corruption to flourish.
All this must sound surreal to any young Kenyans who came of age in this era when even the most prestigious and profitable banks will shamelessly set up a branded tent out on the street, and hawk their ‘unsecured loans’ to all and sundry, asking only that you have an adequate monthly income, verified by your payslip.
And where in the 1980s you might easily have spent an entire morning in the bank manager’s waiting room, nowadays it’s the banks’ marketing personnel who will come over to your place of work with the loan application forms.
Of course, what made this great transition possible was the march of technology: the banks computerised their records. The days when a bank manager’s secretary would bring out your file for the manager to review are long gone. Nor are the bank manager’s personal insights of the slightest use: the calculations of your creditworthiness are all done by impersonal computers. And, as an Estonian technocrat observed in an online tutorial I undertook relating to my current visit to Estonia (capital city, Tallinn, national population 1.2 million), “You cannot bribe a computer.”
But still on banking, the odd thing is that a citizen of any European Union country reading this will probably find that the Kenyan banking system is somewhat backward.
For example, in much of Europe (as well as in North America) taking out loans does not require any personal interaction with bank personnel at all.
Your bank’s officers only see you when you initially open the account. Thereafter, you need never set foot in the banking hall again, as using your personal access codes, you will be able to monitor or initiate all activity on your bank account and credit cards, and even apply for increased credit limits or new loans. For cash, of course, there are the ubiquitous ATMs.
Naturally, this presupposes near-universal internet access. And this is increasingly seen as a standard public utility in many countries, including here in Kenya. And it is now possible to open a bank account on your smart phone, and operate it, without once setting foot in the marble halls of a prestigious bank.
Thus has technology not only opened the doors to financial inclusivity for millions of Kenya who would never have been able to open bank accounts under the 1980s model of bank operations. But it has also made it impossible for bank managers to engage in any corruption of the kind that would involve extortion from desperate borrowers. These days when you hear of bank fraud, it generally involves bank employees stealing from the bank itself.
In such a technological environment, when you find that billions are still stolen from Kenyan government accounts, or through fraudulent procurement, it is safe to conclude that the problem is not one of inadequate fraud prevention technologies. Rather, it is the absence of the political will to put an end to the widespread and corrosive corruption that continues to frustrate Kenya’s economic development.
Now you may well wonder: what am I doing in Estonia, the small (and currently very cold) country, which, together with Latvia and Lithuania, are generally termed as the Baltic states?
Well, I am here to study, in the words of my hosts, “e-Estonia – a term commonly used to describe Estonia’s emergence as one of the most advanced e-societies in the world – an incredible success story that grew out of a partnership between a forward-thinking government, a pro-active ICT sector and a switched-on, tech-savvy population.”