COVID-19 has accelerated the digital transformation of business lending

According to research from McKinsey, traditionally banks take an average of three to five weeks to make a corporate or SME loan decision. And then, it takes about three months before the company receives the cash. During this coronavirus crisis, with so many businesses in distress, such a slow and tedious lending process is unworkable and unacceptable.

A digital lending revolution is already underway

Corporate and SME clients need loan decisions in minutes and cash in a matter of days. Banks need to radically speed-up their eligibility decision-making process to attract and retain business clients and stay competitive. Embracing digital lending is no longer a 'nice-to-have' future-focused project; it is a 'must-have' capability for all banks competing in the business banking market.

An end-to-end digital journey

VeriPark's Digital Lending solution enables banks to support corporate and SME customers when they need it most. The platform offers a completely paperless process. Business customers can initiate loans, easily upload documents (such as bank statements and company financial reports) and digital signatures, and verify their ID smoothly through the digital portal.

Customers can use the Loan Calculator to select the amount and duration of the loan and instantly find out the monthly installment amount. As soon as their application lands in the lending portal, it flows to the back office and triggers an 'approve or decline' decision engine. If it's approved, the customer reviews the agreement, provides an e-signature and uploads all the relevant documents to the portal. These are sent immediately to the back office to complete the loan set-up and disbursement process.

From loan origination to decision and disbursement - in just 20 minutes

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology helps banks to handle large volumes of loan documents, such as ID photos, swiftly and accurately. In fact, once the customer has all the documents to hand, the whole process can be completed in around 20 minutes. What's more, the platform is available on tablets and mobile devices, so there is no need for busy and anxious business owners to go to a branch.

Our digital lending portal connects to multiple credit checking organizations. Banks can also connect it to their CRM systems to check existing customer data. This enables them to automate underwriting and loan approvals according to their own defined credit policies and business rules. If the customer has selected 'Instant Disbursement' during the onboarding process, they will receive their approved loan via the portal as soon as the sale is complete.

Digital lending delivers efficiency gains as well as faster and better quality risk decisions for banks. Business customers will also benefit from a smoother, less stressful customer journey. During this rapidly-evolving COVID-19 situation, banks will need these capabilities to attract, onboard and retain corporate and SME clients.

This pandemic is forcing companies across the globe to rethink their strategies. In particular, it is forcing banks to speed up and implement new digital transformation initiatives. Digital lending is one way banks can help keep businesses running as smoothly as possible during this crisis and be better prepared for the recovery phase.