Finances and banking have dramatically changed in recent decades, and technical innovations were the main contributor. Edgy satellite-driven technologies facilitate financial decision-making and open up new business horizons, and the geographic information system (GIS) is among the best novelties.

Geospatial data gives more specific information to banks than any other source. Banks can study market demand, track competitors, and manage agricultural credit risks.

What Is Geospatial Data?

Geospatial data is any information indicating the geographical position (aka georeference). Georeferencing can be more or less specific – from the exact location on the map with the Global Positioning System (GPS) to just a country’s region. It provides a lot of useful information about the questioned area but the greatest thing about geospatial information is data visualization on the map.

For example, GIS software can provide valuable demographic insights on the population density in a certain area, people’s income, or financial services they use. Derived data helps banking institutions analyze the current patterns and understand how trends change over time.

Let’s consider the most essential benefits of location-based geospatial data for the financial sector.

Risk Assessment for Agri-Banks

Agribusiness is a highly vulnerable sphere due to farmers’ yield loss, but satellite-based crop monitoring analytics and custom solutions can help to mitigate the risks. In particular, crop yield forecasting with satellite technologies allow for analyzing credit default probability. In other words, agri-banks can understand if farmers are likely to repay the debt by predicting their future profits.

Yield estimation before granting a loan also includes checking the historical data on the farm’s productivity, historical weather trends, and the current crop state. Before, the task often required physical field inspection by scouts and digging through piles of paper docs. Nowadays, crop yield estimation using remote sensing is easier. EOSDA products and custom solutions provide multiple data on the required location – all in one place.

What Problems Do Banks Have while Working with Data?

While processing the submitted data about the farms, banks face a number of challenges:

• Lack of required data. Proper farm enterprise analysis must be based both on current and historical information that can be missing or lost.

• Credit default risks and payout failures. Clients may fail to pay back the loan.

• Data credibility. Growers can mislead the banks about their farm’s productivity, which complicates data procession and increases the credit default risks.

• Revenue estimation. Crop yield prediction helps lenders understand if prospective borrowers can meet the credit requirements and return the loan.

• Time management issues. Field inspection for data verification often requires additional time and effort.

• Necessity for advanced technology adoption. Traditional methods for risk assessment are often slower and less effective than modern ones.

What Benefits and Results the Banks Will Get

By leveraging satellite-based farming software and switching to modern technologies, banking and financial institutions will be able to improve their workflow in the following ways:

• shorten the application processing time;

• access reliable data for yield prediction;

• reduce repay failure risks;

• save costs for field scouting;

• embrace more clients;

• increase customer satisfaction rate.

Furthermore, EOSDA is about to launch its proprietary EOS SAT, an agri-focused satellite constellation this year, intending to provide even more data precision and improved services to its clients.

Competitor Tracking

When it comes to finances and banking, geospatial data provides far more benefits than better management of risks. With georeferencing, banks can keep ahead of the game by tracking competitors’ activity on GIS maps. Thus, geospatial software can show the exact geographical position of competitors and the density of their institutions in a specific area. GIS mapping also allows for change detection in the specified location, which means banks can analyze their competitors’ geographical movements and business patterns to predict their future behavior over time. This way, financial institutions will improve their own business models and expand the market in the long run.

Logistics Optimization

Banks require cash transportation to and from ATMs, and bank fleet management can be optimized through a geospatial data-based system. Among other functionalities, it can choose the fastest routes by predicting traffic jams, which saves time and resources. Besides, by speeding up cash pickup and delivery time, banks will avoid cash shortages to ensure customer satisfaction.

Thus, geospatial data can assist to improve business processes and facilitate workflow procedures, contributing to new market expansion and the banks’ reputation. By adopting the latest innovations, banks can keep pace with the ever-changing world and enjoy the benefits of advancement.