Ignite SME Lending with Straight-Through Processing

By Taylor Adkins, VP of Product Management, Q2 lending solutions

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) want to work with highly responsive lenders in the digital channel. Small-ticket lenders can significantly aid businesses struggling to get the funds they need to keep their businesses afloat in this time of stress.

Unfortunately, traditional financial institutions (FIs) often struggle to meet SMB needs. As they see consumer borrowers benefiting from positive digital lending experiences, these businesses want similar experiences that are both quick and easy. SMBs all-too-often have a poor experience due to poor technology infrastructure – that is, a thin veneer of front-end technology applied to tacked-together legacy systems.

It’s time to change. SMBs need better lending experiences.

Around 53% of SMBs complain that they struggle to access the funding needed for growth.*

This is huge –- the majority of lenders recognize that to serve these smaller businesses they need to adapt, but struggle to commit to identifying a solution. Ask most small or medium-sized business owners and they will tell you that they want to manage their business banking – including loans – online or on their mobile phones in a way that is both intuitive and elegant. To deliver this, it’s paramount that FIs consider a wholesale change that incorporates a seamless end-to-end automated process – from application through to underwriting and in-life servicing.

SMBs mean business. So should you.

Savvy fintechs and tech giants represent serious competition for FIs; SMBs will flock to their solutions if FIs fail to innovate and compete.

If your FI wants to adapt to meet the needs and demands of SMBs, start by learning more about Straight-Through Processing (STP), a solution that can reduce the cost of small-ticket lending, enhance customer service, reduce risk, and create opportunities for cross-selling and upselling banking products and services. STP can be implemented quickly and help FIs deliver funding to SMBs in hours, not weeks or months.

What’s more, STP can:

• Open up more deals, close more loans, and start a path to deep customer relationships.
• Flip a traditionally slim profit line business into a trailblazing revenue center, recognized for innovation and high margins
• Bring more comfort to borrowers seeking more personalized experiences in this time of uncertainty

STP is built around infrastructure that collects, stores, and uses an abundance of customer information, resulting in:

• Deeper relationships
• Increased revenue
• Reduced costs

Read about STP in a new Q2 e-book The High Cost of Lending Uncovered. The e-book explores STP in more detail, providing pointers on how FIs can transition to this innovative technology approach, and unlock significant profitability.