Women borrowers are financially more disciplined than their male counterparts and have been able to take loans even during the pandemic, TransUnion CIBIL said in a report.

The 90-days-past-due consumer-level delinquency rate – a measure of loan repayment delays – for women borrowers stood at 5.2 percent across retail credit products compared with 6.9 percent for men in 2021, indicating that women t

end up being more disciplined borrowers, according to the report issued on May 7.

The number of women borrowers increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent over the past five years compared with 14 percent for male borrowers. The share of women borrowers widened to 29 percent in 2021 from 25 percent in 2016, while the share of men shrank to 71 percent from 75 percent during this period.

New-age investing

While women are able to avail of credit at a faster pace than men, they are also investing in new-age avenues such as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms to earn higher returns, a separate study showed. P2P lending is an online service that matches lenders with borrowers.

There has been an over five-fold year-on-year increase in the number of women investing in the P2P lending space in FY22, according to an analysis by P2P player Kenfasp2p. There has also been a 150 percent increase in women borrowers on these platforms. The study is based on responses received from 20,165 women investors and borrowers in the P2P lending space.

According to the survey, over 50 percent of the women who invest in P2P lending platforms are in the 31-40 age group and the average amount they invest is Ksh. 60,000. The study showed that all women re-invested their capital at the end of a loan cycle. Women from Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret were the most active in P2P lending, the report said.

Whether it is an M-pesa loan, a business loan Kenya, or a payday loan, women have proved to be more creditworthy compared to their male counterparts.