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Machine Learning and Metaheuristics Approach for Individual Credit Risk Assessment: A Systematic Literature Review

Álex Paz, Broderick Crawford, Éric Monfroy, José Barrera-García, Álvaro Peña, Ricardo Soto, Felipe Cisternas-Caneo, Andrés Yáñez

Biomimetics, 2025

11 citations

Abstract

Credit risk assessment plays a critical role in financial risk management, focusing on predicting borrower default to minimize losses and ensure compliance. This study systematically reviews 23 empirical articles published between 2019 and 2023, highlighting the integration of machine learning and optimization techniques, particularly bio-inspired metaheuristics, for feature selection in individual credit risk assessment. These nature-inspired algorithms, derived from biological and ecological processes, align with bio-inspired principles by mimicking natural intelligence to solve complex problems in high-dimensional feature spaces. Unlike prior reviews that adopt broader scopes combining corporate, sovereign, and individual contexts, this work focuses exclusively on methodological strategies for individual credit risk. It categorizes the use of machine learning algorithms, feature selection methods, and metaheuristic optimization techniques, including genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization, and biogeography-based optimization. To strengthen transparency and comparability, this review also synthesizes classification performance metrics-such as accuracy, AUC, F1-score, and recall-reported across benchmark datasets. Although no unified experimental comparison was conducted due to heterogeneity in study protocols, this structured summary reveals consistent trends in algorithm effectiveness and evaluation practices. The review concludes with practical recommendations…

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Evidence Hub reads this as a review, done in computer models (in silico), not in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.

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