FICO Platform Powers R$1B Digital Transformation in Brazil's Rural Credit System
Bradesco empowers 500,000+ farmers through E-agro, Brazil's first fully digital rural credit marketplace built on FICO® Platform
FICO (NYSE:FICO)
Highlights:
- Bradesco built E-agro on FICO® Platform to digitize and accelerate rural lending
- Over R$1 billion (USD$197M) in digital credit granted in the platform's first year
- Contract lead times reduced by 70%, with over 2,000 complex transactions automated
- E-agro has won the ESG Champion category in the 2025 FICO® Decision Awards
Bradesco, one of Latin America's largest banks, is using FICO® Platform to revolutionize how rural credit is delivered in Brazil. Through the E-agro digital platform, built and run on FICO's advanced decisioning capabilities, the bank has automated complex processes, improved credit access for over 500,000 farmers, and delivered over R$1 billion in funding within the first year.
Brazilian agribusiness plays a key role in the global food supply, with some estimates suggesting it helps feed around 10% of the world's population. Bradesco's investment in E-agro is not only a leap forward in financial technology but also a catalyst for economic and environmental resilience across rural Brazil.
"Farmers play a very important role in Brazil's economy, and technology is key to supporting their growth," said Nadege Saad head of agribusiness at E-agro. "With FICO, we've built a digital offering that makes credit more accessible, approvals faster, and sustainable practices more viable. This is more than a financial innovation, it's also a social and environmental one. By linking better credit access to sustainable practices, we're not only protecting natural resources — we're improving livelihoods and strengthening rural communities."
Digitizing Credit. Empowering Farmers. Enabling Sustainability.
Bradesco launched the E-agro marketplace in 2023 to simplify access to rural credit, products, and services. Built on FICO Platform, the solution automates credit evaluation, document verification, and disbursement — removing friction from the lending process and eliminating the need for in-person visits. Small and medium-sized farmers can now apply, qualify, and receive credit entirely online, at the exact moment they need it.
Since launch, the platform has:
- Granted over R$1B (USD$197M) in credit with over R$500M in marketplace transactions
- Reduced contract lead times by 70%
- Completed 2,000+ complex credit transactions using FICO-powered decisioning
- Delivered Brazil's first fully digital, government-subsidized rural credit solution
A Digital Platform Built for the Field
Traditionally, rural producers needed to visit branches, notaries, and multiple institutions to access credit, a time-consuming process incompatible with modern farming. With E-agro and FICO Platform, Bradesco has digitized the entire journey. Farmers can now check credit eligibility in real-time, receive tailored offers based on behavioral and agronomic data, submit socio-environmental documentation online, and digitally sign contracts, all from their mobile device or desktop. Once approved, funds are disbursed immediately into the client's account, eliminating the need for any physical visits.
By integrating FICO Platform into the credit lifecycle, Bradesco reduced steps from dozens to just eight, making the process not only faster but fairer and more inclusive.
Driving ESG Impact Across Brazil
Beyond the E-agro offering, Bradesco's ESG commitment extends to playing a supporting role in the ILPF (Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry) Network, a regenerative agriculture model that enhances biodiversity, improves soil quality, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Through partnerships like the Sustainable Agriculture Finance Facility (SAFF), Bradesco provides lower-cost credit for farmers adopting ILPF practices.
"Bradesco is bringing new thinking and technology to banking in agribusiness," said Nikhil Behl, president, software at FICO. "By using advanced decisioning to empower farmers and protect the environment, they're creating lasting economic and ecological value."
For its achievements, Bradesco's E-agro has won the ESG Champion category in the 2025 FICO® Decision Awards.
"Bradesco's E-agro platform stood out to the judging panel as a powerful example of how digital innovation and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand," said Allan Tan, group editor-in-chief at Cxociety and FICO Decision Awards judge. "It's rare to see such a clear fusion of ESG commitment with operational transformation."
To see the full list of 2025 FICO Decision Awards winners, check out: https://www.fico.com/en/fico-decisions-awards-2025
About Bradesco
Bradesco is one of Brazil's largest and most respected financial institutions, serving over 71 million customers. The bank is at the forefront of digital banking, utilizing cutting-edge technology to enhance customer experience and financial security. Bradesco is committed to financial inclusion, innovation, and sustainable development, ensuring seamless and secure banking for individuals and businesses across Brazil.
About the FICO® Decision Awards
The FICO Decisions Awards recognize organisations that are achieving remarkable success using FICO solutions. A panel of independent judges with deep industry expertise evaluates nominations based upon measurable improvement in key metrics; demonstrated use of best practices; project scale, depth and breadth; and innovative uses of technology. The 2025 judges are:
- Regan Goble, risk analytics senior manager at Westpac NZ (Previous Winner)
- Megha Kumar, research vice president at IDC
- Joe McKendrick, analyst and senior contributor at Forbes
- Luiz Pacete, technology and marketing industry influencer
- Ali Paterson, founder and editor-in-chief at Fintech Finance
- Mike Roberts, head of unsecured retail risk at HSBC UK bank (Previous Winner)
- Erin Stillwell, EVP, payment partnerships at Blankfactor
- Allan Tan, group editor-in-chief at Cxociety
About FICO
FICO (NYSE:FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 80 countries do everything from protecting 4 billion payment cards from fraud, to improving financial inclusion, to increasing supply chain resiliency. The FICO® Score, used by 90% of top US lenders, is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the US and has been made available in over 40 other countries, improving risk management, credit access and transparency.
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