Fiserv Expands Credit Options for SMBs

Payments and financial services provider Fiserv has launched a digital credit and lending platform for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

“The latest Fiserv offering, leveraging the Atlas Platform from FinTech StreetShares, allows financial institutions to manage the full lending lifecycle from digital document capture, underwriting, offer management and closing — delivering against the expectations of both staff and customers,” the company said in a Thursday (Oct. 14) news release.

Fiserv says this platform, which will be integrated with its core systems starting in the fourth quarter of 2021, offers analytics, automated decisioning insights and a business owner hub where financial institutions can make loan offers.

The Wisconsin-based company says it and StreetShares helped a number of financial institutions with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans throughout the pandemic, helping many of them acquire new SMB customers in the process.

“In 2020, we were able to strengthen our small business relationships as we were able to rely on Fiserv to help us meet the strong demand for Paycheck Protection Program loans more effectively,” said Richard Olson, SVP of retail and corporate marketing at Envision Bank. “We see great opportunity in continuing to serve small business lending needs, and in leveraging this technology to do so more efficiently as part of our overall commitment to our clients to deliver an excellent experience.”

Fiserv says SMB lending presents a major opportunity for financial institutions, many of whom want to diversify their revenue. A digital-first approach to these businesses is crucial, the company says, as 47 percent of small businesses say technology has “an outsized impact” on whether they’ll work with an institution.

Read more: Synchrony, Fiserv Expand Partnership to Offer Clover

Also Thursday, Fiserv and Synchrony announced they are expanding their partnership with a new arrangement that allows SMBs to access Synchrony’s products and services and accept credit card payments via Fiserv’s Clover.

The two companies say the expansion marks the first time private-label credit cards will be accepted on point-of-sale platform Clover.