Government appointed loan platform, Funding Xchange, wins £5 million RBS Remedies grant
Funding Xchange, the leading SME finance technology platform has been awarded £5 million by BCR as part of the Pool E allocation of the RBS Remedies fund.
Funding Xchange was founded in 2014 to transform the SME lending market with the core aims of making SME finance more accessible, affordable, and sustainable. The technology at the heart of Funding Xchange is unique, delivering quotes to SMEs in 3 minutes, decisions in 5minutes and funds in bank in 10 minutes.
Funding Xchange applied for the funding in conjunction with challenger bank, Shawbrook Bank, and with the backing of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB), and small business advice platform, Enterprise Nation with the core aims of making SME finance more accessible, affordable and sustainable.
Working in collaboration with Enterprise Nation and NACFB, Funding Xchange will develop SME and broker finance hubs providing an additional 1.1 million businesses and 2,000 brokers with simple and fast access to sustainable funding by the end of 2022. The Enterprise Nation Finance Portal will also provide businesses with e-learning tools and access to 10,000+ advisors across the UK. The SmartFinance Hub in partnership with the NACFB will be available free of charge to the majority of Member firms.
In terms of affordability, Funding Xchange will work with challenger banks and alternative lenders to deploy its technology platform as a plug-and-play solution to automate their decisioning and connect SMEs to the wider lending ecosystem. This will reduce lenders’ operational costs, allowing them to handle higher volumes and invest in competitive pricing.
Using the unique access to data from Funding Xchange technology platform, Funding Xchange will work with Shawbrook Bank to develop a real time monitoring tool for intelligently assessing the ability of borrowers to manage repayment profiles and hence facilitate intelligent concession management for lenders. The model will assist in minimising the calls on the government under their guarantees obligations and will help to preserve the future of many small business borrowers.
Co-founder and CEO of Funding Xchange said, “Working with our partners, with the support of the allocation from the Pool E fund, we will make a material difference to the ability of many thousands of start-ups and growing small businesses to access the funding that they need at the most competitive pricing. At the same time we will be providing the tools to the banks to enable them to analyse when repayments can be achieved.”
Founder and CEO of Enterprise Nation, Emma Jones added her support, ““Enterprise Nation is recognised as the leading advice platform for small businesses. Engaging with Funding Xchange to create an Enterprise Nation Funding Hub will mean that many businesses will now be able to access the finance they need as well as trusted advice on how to manage those funds. We are delighted to be working with Funding Xchange on a project that will make such a difference to business owners.”
Norman Chambers, Managing Director of the NACFB said, "The Association is exploring opportunities with Funding Xchange to provide our broker community with access to industry-leading digital capabilities and integration with lenders that remove administrative hassle, simplify compliance and provide access to a wide pool of lenders. The technology looks to assist brokers with access to existing funding partners as well as 70 lenders, creating the opportunity to assist more clients as UK businesses are navigating a challenging external environment." Adding her own perspective, Katrin Herrling commented, "We at Funding Xchange are seeking to power the SmartFinance Hub in partnership with the NACFB to enable their 2,000 brokers across the UK to use our digital capabilities. The Hub will be available free of charge to the majority of Member firms."
Notes for Editors:
Details of the BCR RBS Remedies announcement available at: https://bcr-ltd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Pool-E-Application-Period-One-announcement-v1.0.pdf