A group of fintech firms from the lending sector have come together to form a taskforce to help SMEs get funding during the Coronavirus crisis.
Trade Ledger, a digital lending platform; Wiserfunding, a digital SME credit scoring platform; Nimbla, a trade credit insurance provider, and NorthRow a remote client onboarding platform have joined forces to provide a turn-key origination and underwriting platform that allows banks, alternative lenders and private debt lenders to virtually and digitally deploy funds to businesses during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The firms are responding to the chronic need for credit by British SMEs facing cashflow problems during the crisis. Even though extraordinary measures have been taken by government to offer grants, loans and guarantees including the British Business Banks’ Coronavirus Business Interruption Lending Scheme, funding may not get to those SMEs that most need it - or in the timeframe needed.
The joint lending platform, which includes baked-in risk assessment, KYC and insurance capabilities, will be able to support any type of term loans, invoice finance and asset finance with funds deployed within days as opposed to weeks.
Martin McCann, CEO at Trade Ledger says: “With the Covid-19 outbreak putting immense financial pressure on global supply chains, now more than ever, SMEs need reliable cash flow if they are to stay in business. On average, it takes around 90 days for lenders in this sector to onboard new customers and establish new credit lines. The government’s capital injection is a massive boost to an underserved market at an extreme time of need but its impact will be lost if lenders aren’t able to get these loans to their customers quickly”