Omnisient wins Money20/20 Banking Grand Prix for grocery-data credit scoring

Omnisient won the 2026 Money20/20 Banking Grand Prix after a grocery-data model helped banks identify creditworthy consumers with no credit history. The initiative found that 40% of newly scored consumers qualified for credit they would previously have been denied, underscoring a new path for financial inclusion.

Why it matters: - Grocery shopping data can surface creditworthiness that traditional credit files miss. - The approach could expand access to credit for consumers with no file, thin files or irregular income. - Omnisient is now pushing the model into the U.S. market as Basket Signals.

What happened: - Omnisient won the Banking Grand Prix at the 2026 Money20/20 Money Awards in Las Vegas. - The entry was recognized in the Financial Inclusion category. - The initiative used grocery shopping data from two major banks and a leading national grocery retailer. - The project found that 40% of consumers scored now qualify for credit they previously would have been denied.

The details: - The Banking Grand Prix is the top award in the Banking category. - The model was first deployed in South Africa. - In South Africa, grocery shopping history allowed banks to score 38% of the country’s credit-invisible population for the first time. - Of those newly scored consumers, 40% qualified for credit they would previously have been denied. - In a separate live deployment, one banking partner approved approximately 20% of previously credit-invisible applicants screened through the service over 12 months. - Banks kept responsibility for credit policy and final lending decisions. - Omnisient is a UK-headquartered consumer intelligence company backed by TransUnion. - The company operates in the U.S., UK, Brazil, the Middle East and South Africa.

Between the lines: - Conventional credit scores rely heavily on mortgage, auto loan and credit card repayment history. - That can overlook consumers who have never carried those debts, even when they manage money responsibly. - The company is positioning grocery behavior as a proxy for purchasing power, repayment capacity and life-stage changes. - Basket Signals adds intelligence from the products and brands people buy, the prices they pay and how their shopping changes over time. - The product complements account, transaction and open banking data and looks at repeated behavior rather than one-off purchases. - Omnisient says personal identifiers are protected before analysis and raw customer data is never exchanged between banks and retailers. - Participating retailers keep control of their underlying data, and banks remain responsible for governance and lending decisions. - Omnisient is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified.

What's next: - Omnisient is bringing Basket Signals to U.S. banks. - The company says banks do not need to build their own models to start using the service. - Omnisient advises on the data needed for each use case and handles matching and analysis. - Signals can feed marketing audiences or connect through APIs into existing bank systems. - The system is meant to support digital and in-branch conversations about credit, deposits, savings and investments. - More information is available in the full list of Money 20/20 Awards winners and on Omnisient's website.