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Articles

Feature selection in credit risk modeling: an international evidence

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Pages 3064-3091 | Received 21 May 2020, Accepted 16 Dec 2020, Published online: 17 Jan 2021
 

Abstract

This paper aims to discover a suitable combination of contemporary feature selection techniques and robust prediction classifiers. As such, to examine the impact of the feature selection method on classifier performance, we use two Chinese and three other real-world credit scoring datasets. The utilized feature selection methods are the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). In contrast, the examined classifiers are the classification and regression trees (CART), logistic regression (LR), artificial neural network (ANN), and support vector machines (SVM). Empirical findings confirm that LASSO's feature selection method, followed by robust classifier SVM, demonstrates remarkable improvement and outperforms other competitive classifiers. Moreover, ANN also offers improved accuracy with feature selection methods; LR only can improve classification efficiency through performing feature selection via LASSO. Nonetheless, CART does not provide any indication of improvement in any combination. The proposed credit scoring modeling strategy may use to develop policy, progressive ideas, operational guidelines for effective credit risk management of lending, and other financial institutions. The finding of this study has practical value, as to date, there is no consensus about the combination of feature selection method and prediction classifiers.

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Disclosure statement

The authors reported no potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been supported by the Key Programs of National Natural Science Foundation of China (the grant number 71731003), the General Programs of National Natural Science Foundation of China (the grant number 72071026, 71873103, 71971051, and 71971034), the Youth Programs of National Natural Science Foundation of China (the grant number 71901055, 71903019), the Major Projects of National Social Science Foundation of China (18ZDA095). The project has also been supported by the Bank of Dalian and Postal Savings Bank of China. We thank the organizations mentioned above.