The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Credit Assessment Pilot Project for Unsecured Lending is a pilot designed to assist, not automate.
Minister for Finance, Commerce and Business Development, Hon. Esrom Immanuel, stated this in Parliament today (01/12/2025), as he highlighted the safeguards of the pilot project.
The first initiative of its kind for Fiji, the pilot will accept loan applications from existing FDB customers for amounts up to $100,000, with loans under $10,000 available as unsecured, subject to standard eligibility.
Hon. Immanuel stated that following the launch, the project team has been enhancing the tool’s features and continuing to train the AI model for even greater accuracy.
“We are already seeing strong early interest, with over 100 existing customers registering their interest through the platform. FDB is now proactively guiding them to complete their applications,” Hon. Immanuel stated
The Minister emphasised that final lending decisions remain firmly with FDB’s experienced credit officers.
“To address concerns about fairness, the AI model is being trained on FDB’s own historical
data and is continuously monitored for discriminatory bias to ensure it serves all Fijians equitably.
“Furthermore, this initiative is about augmenting the capabilities of our FDB workforce, not reducing it. It frees the Bank’s skilled officers from repetitive analysis to focus on complex cases and customer relationships.”
