THE AUTHOR
Bayan Dekker
Building credit systems.
Asking more of them.
Forty years across consumer credit strategy, research and systems, from scorecards and affordability to collections and customer engagement. The work spans retailers, banks, credit bureaus, specialist lenders, telecommunications groups and regulators across Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Practical experience informs the argument for change.
BUILDER
Credit systems and the businesses that deliver them, spanning origination, account management, collections and dialogue. Analytical design carried into working platforms, with growing attention to agentic AI and consumer engagement.
EDUCATOR
A credit academy, international scoring laboratory, and decision science accelerator for STEM graduates. Cases and simulations turn knowledge into practice, connecting analytical skills with decisions people can explain.
REFORMER
Public arguments for more human consumer credit, informed by practice. Earlier policy work included an industry investigation for a national trade department and a retail federation, as well as contributions to microfinance regulation.
ADVISER
Credit policy, affordability, risk and commercial performance are considered together across the lifecycle. Engagements connect diagnosis with strategy, system requirements, implementation and measurement, leaving institutions with methods their teams can sustain.
RESEARCHER
Consumer journeys, indebtedness, financial preparedness and resilience, examined through credit bureau data, qualitative and quantitative research. Findings connected to operational decisions, with published evidence testing the wider case for reform.
INDEPENDENT EXPERT
Credit systems, methods and decisions examined in contested matters. Expert reports and detailed evidence review establish what can be supported, including conclusions the instructing party may not want to hear.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE WORK
Earlier Published Work
Contributing author to three professional books edited by Murray Bailey.
Credit Scoring: The Principles and Practicalities
Lending strategies and in-house scorecard development.
Consumer Collections & Recoveries: Operations and Strategies
Collections strategies, recovery scoring, roll rates and probability of write-off.
Consumer Credit Quality: Underwriting, Scoring, Fraud Prevention and Collections
Personal loan lending strategies.
THE PERSONAL TURN
What changed the questions
In April 2024, my wife Sandi was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. I left Versuro at the end of that year to care for her. The experience changed the questions I brought to the systems I had spent my career building. It explains the urgency behind this work. The evidence must earn the argument.
Founder of FinToMe Limited. Co-founder and director of Vwala.ai, focused on the analytics behind collections and customer engagement. Research, advisory and independent expert work continue alongside that commercial role.
CURRENT ROLES