Big Data puts us to the test

Big Data has a transformative power that is becoming more and more present in our society. The analysis of the volume of data that exists about us, without going any further in social networks, to know our “risk” and decide whether to grant us a loan, is a reality and not a future. Fintech applications already use Social Media Data, combined with traditional financial information, to decide the loan. An example of this is the fintech startup Kabbage, oriented towards small companies, which the magazine Wired.

Kabbage offers loans to small businesses through an application, and the value, which they say sets them apart from traditional banking, is that the decision and access to funds is faster, based on an automated platform. Customers give the system access to data sources such as their credit accounts, shipments, but also their e-commerce platforms and even their social networks. Kabbage processes and analyzes all this data.

Traditional banks lack the necessary technology to provide this type of development, but they are already moving and creating alliances to remedy it. Kabbage, among others, claims to have licensed its technology to entities such as ING or Banco Santander in the United Kingdom.

It is inevitable not to see the disturbing side of all this in terms of the protection of our privacy. In a statement to the newspaper Expansion the renowned hacker Chema Alonso, Telefónica’s brand new data chief, “that you ask for a loan at the bank and they tell you no because Facebook has told the entity that you are going to die in five years.” A losing battle?