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Regulatory Rescue: How Ardanis Built an Automated Claims Portal that Saved Wonga Millions While Ensuring Customer Fairness.
Background
Wonga was a payday loans provider operating in the UK and internationally, with branches in South Africa, Spain, Canada, and India. The company specialised in short-term, high-interest loans for subprime markets.
Ardanis had a long-standing relationship with Wonga, having worked on multiple projects over the years. Their deep understanding of Wonga’s technology and operations made them a natural choice when critical challenges emerged during the company’s later stages.
Ardanis played a transformative role in payments, collections, and loan management systems, helping Wonga meet its regulatory obligations while ensuring fair outcomes for customers. However, when regulatory changes put immense pressure on the business, particularly regarding fees and remediation, Wonga needed a compliant, structured, and exceptionally robust solution.
Challenge
The introduction of stricter Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations led to a major remediation programme, requiring Wonga to compensate customers in a transparent manner. These customers had been impacted by historical loan miscalculations, including incorrect interest rates and unaffordable lending.
Wonga faced daunting challenges:
- A surge in requests from third-party claims management companies, many of them submitted bulk claims, overwhelming existing systems and processes.
- FCA regulations required claims to be assessed within three weeks and payments made within six weeks, requiring an urgent solution to streamline claims handling.
- The unsustainable cost of manually processing claims made operational efficiency critical to ensuring fair and timely compensation.
The automated claims portal accelerated processing times, ensuring FCA compliance while improving efficiency and fairness in customer compensation.
Solution
Ardanis designed and built a revolutionary, fully automated claims portal to streamline the remediation process, ensuring full compliance while enhancing accuracy and accelerating processing speed:
This system introduced:
- A highly structured and entirely transparent online claims process, replacing paper-based and phone-based claims.
- Automated eligibility verification, swiftly cross-checking claims against Wonga’s databases to validate eligibility.
- Advanced fraud detection measures, exposing anomalies and preventing abuse by third-party claims companies.
Precision-focused remediation adjustments, guaranteeing fair, transparent, and accurate compensation for customers.
To achieve this, Ardanis leveraged:
- A seamless user-friendly customer portal making the process accessible and efficient.
- Robust backend processing, ensuring claims were assessed and paid within regulatory deadlines.
- An integrated, compliance-driven workflow guaranteeing compliance while maximising accuracy.
This custom-built system integrated directly with Wonga’s existing infrastructure, enabling rapid deployment with immediate tangible results.
KEY OUTCOMES
The solution delivered significant improvements in compliance, operational efficiency, and financial sustainability:
Significant Operational Cost Reduction – Millions in operational costs were reduced, allowing Wonga to fulfil its regulatory obligations while ensuring fair customer outcomes.
Regulatory Compliance Achieved – The automated claims portal ensured that Wonga met strict FCA deadlines and avoided potential legal penalties.
Minimised Fraudulent Claims – Advanced fraud detection systems identified and minimised fraudulent claims, ensuring compensation reached the right customers.
Business Closure Managed Effectively – Ardanis played a pivotal role in managing Wonga’s responsible business closure, ensuring fair settlements for customers and creditors.
Ardanis continued to support Wonga beyond remediation, helping the company to responsibly manage its loan book and navigate regulatory challenges. Their expertise in compliance-driven financial technology was instrumental in ensuring a smooth, efficient and responsible transition during one of the most challenging periods in Wonga’s history.
