Funding Xchange and Capco drive digitisation to boost support for SMEs

By Megha Bhattacharya

FinTech Funding Xchange and Capco have announced that they aim to encourage the financial services industry to recognise the importance of FinTech lenders to small businesses as the government-supported Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) comes to an end.

CEO of Funding Xchange, Katrin Herrling, noted, “CBILS and BBLS have slowed down the growth of the fintech sector significantly, the digital processes that existed before the crisis that were working well have been entirely disrupted – they’ve been unplugged. There’s no doubt that the government needed to step in, but the way it’s been executed has fundamentally impacted the increased competition that fintechs had introduced, together with the options for finance available to SMEs.”

Katrin Herrling stated that the Funding Xchange platform witnessed an “increase in customers coming from challenger banks looking for a loan: “Before the crisis, it was about 15 percent of customers and now it’s upwards of 40 percent.” The indications from the latest Funding Xchange Lending Monitor point to approximately 250,000 businesses being excluded from the BBLS simply as a result of them not banking with one of the accredited banks.

Alla Gancz, UK Head of Digital at Capco, said, “At Capco we are already supporting many banks to realise their digitisation goals. It is clear that there is a willingness among banks to integrate existing digital solutions into their service offerings to optimise efficiencies, speed to market and the customer experience. As we exit the pandemic, it is critical that this cooperation be extended to providing the best funding solutions to SMEs as they look to recover from the challenges of 2020.”

Recently, Funding Xchange and Enterprise Nation teamed up to support small businesses and start-ups with financial support. The partnership will provide users with access to free online resources, a tool to help businesses identify and access funding solutions, and connections to advisers. The launch of the ‘Enterprise Nation Finance Hub’ offers businesses instant access to finance options.