Presentation of Capitole
Capitole Finance-Tofinso is a subsidiary of Caisse d'Épargne de Midi-Pyrénées, attached to BPCE. A specialist in rental financing for over 50 years, Capitole Finance supports businesses and individuals through 3 areas of expertise:
- the financing of professional equipment (Furniture Leasing and Financial Rental) with its LIZequip' product;
- car leasing: LOA / LLD via LIZauto;
- financing pleasure boats with LIZmer.
Capitole Finance represents 1.2 billion euros in outstanding loans and employs 180 employees, distributed between the head office in Labège (31) and the offices in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Monaco.
Véronique Skrela supervises, within the credit risk management department, 36 experts in the analysis of financing files and the granting of credit.
The fight against fraud is part of the daily life of its teams, helped by the Meelo solution.
How did you know Meelo?
Coming out of the Covid crisis, around two years ago, Capitole Finance noticed an increase in fraud . First on the individual market, then on the business market.
Between identity theft, false profiles of establishments or companies with questionable transactions, the volume of fraudulent files had become too large to process by hand. Capitole Finance looked for tools using AI technologies. The objective was to automate the first checks on financing requests and to accelerate the refusal of granting risky files.
“ Our main concern at the time, specifies Véronique Skrela, it was to verify that the person submitting a financing request was indeed who they claimed to be. On the recommendation of a partner, we made an appointment with Meelo for a demo and were convinced by the effectiveness of the solution. ”When and how did your collaboration begin?
After a test phase carried out on a first series of files, Capitole Finance integrated the Meelo solution into its panel of anti-fraud tools in July 2023.
“ There has been a real shift in our activity ,” explains Véronique Skrela. The rules for granting credit have tightened. Fraudsters had to find ways to circumvent the regulations. The digitalization of customer journeys has accentuated the postponement of fraud techniques with a predominance of identity theft.
“ Apart from boat LOAs, we no longer see people in physics . We can no longer do the same job. Today, we verify the identity of the person before even checking their solvency . ”
The conclusion is clear. Fraud is everywhere. Even honest people have been tempted to falsify documents in order to obtain credit approval. It was necessary to quickly equip the Capitole Finance teams with effective solutions to stem this booming phenomenon.
How do Capitole Finance teams use the Meelo solution on a daily basis?
Meelo serves as the first detector. Capitole Finance study managers save time, particularly on grant refusals: “ The solution helps to avoid wasting 20 minutes dissecting questionable documents and closing fraudulent files faster than before . ”
Véronique Skrela specifies: “ Meelo is an aid, but is in no way the decision-maker. The expertise of our financial analysts remains essential in the study of files .”
The solution also allows the implementation of KPIs. “ Their monitoring is fundamental to knowing where to focus our efforts. ” Véronique Skrela added: “ We are not going to eradicate everything. We know that some world champions of fraud will always be one step ahead. And then, we can't do everything. Thanks to indicators, we maximize our agility and tighten the criteria for each new case . There are things that we no longer accept today, even if there will always be exceptions. ”
It is for this reason that it is essential for Capitole Finance to keep the decision to grant. “ The AI has the advantage of feeding on feedback and evolving rapidly. However, there is no question of hiding behind AI .” The anti-fraud solution of Meelo offers a saving of productivity and considerable time. It has proven its effectiveness. It helps automation of tasks and reassures teams to some extent. " However , says Skrela, our experts are not based alone on the Credit Scring to rule on a file . It would be contrary to ethics and the last rules set by the Court of Justice of the European Union in this matter ."
For the risk director of Capitole Finance, this goes even further. “ The solution frees us time to study the right files in more depth. In this way, we respect our customers . ” This vision of responsible financing, widely shared by the Meelo teams, aims to limit the actions of scammers as much as possible to give access to credit to people who truly deserve it.
What are the results ?
Integrating Meelo into Capitole Finance’s decision-making processes helped reduce fraud by almost 60%.
The reaction of the fraudsters was also rapid. Although fraud attempts on the business market have decreased significantly, identity theft remains a worrying subject.
“ With the Meelo teams, we constantly co-brainstorm to adapt the solution. Each file can potentially present a different case of fraud. There are therefore major challenges in quickly setting up a firewall adapted to each new problem. . ”
What do you think of Meelo’s support?
“ The Meelo team is fast, agile and adaptable. These are people who worked in the same profession as us before creating their solution. We therefore have common expertise. It's nice to speak the same language . ”
Meelo meets a need at Capitole. But even more, Meelo allows us to “ put risk into music with AI without dispossessing us of our know-how. ” Ms. Skrela continued: “ It was saving to share with outside people when the fraudulent files arrived en masse . Today, the fact of co-building a sustainable and responsible anti-fraud solution makes exchanges between the two entities as exciting as ever.
And tomorrow ?
In the automobile financing market, the prospect of the rise of LOA or LDD in a 100% digitalized process makes AI interesting on several levels. Thanks to a streamlined and frictionless purchasing process, the quality of Capitole Finance service will further improve. “ It is estimated that between 30 and 45% of files could be validated online in a few clicks . ” Thanks to the coupling of digitalization and automation, good customers will have easier access to credit in extremely short time frames. A good way to stay ahead in a market in which Capitole was one of the pioneers.
Learn more about Meelo’s solutions to combat fraud in automobile financing?
