Validis Automates Data Collection For Invoice Financiers

Financial data technology firm Validis is rolling out a new solution designed to automate month-end reconciliation processes for small business lenders and invoice financing firms.

In a press release issued Thursday (Feb. 7), Validis said it has rolled out DataShare Reconciliation for small business lenders offering Confidential Invoice Discounting (CID). Validis noted that CID is a challenging market for lenders that struggle to obtain real-time, accurate financial data on small businesses to mitigate risk. The solution supports preparation, submission and review of SMBs’ invoice schedules at the end of every month, allowing small firms to automatically share invoice information to financiers.

“DataShare Reconciliation is a real game changer for lenders offering CID and the small businesses they lend to,” said Validis CEO Joel Curry in a statement. “We’re seeing preparation time for invoice reconciliation dropping by as much as 90 percent.

“That means SMBs can concentrate on running their business rather than preparing financial updates for their bank,” he continued. “For lenders, less time chasing their client’s financial data and manually matching invoices means they can focus more time on risk monitoring within their portfolio.”

In an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster last year, Validis SVP of Lending Steven Brennan discussed the importance of data in small business lending to accelerate the speed of financing and enhance underwriting.

“We’ve seen that banks that embrace mobile and online have succeeded, and now we are back at that point with data,” he said. “The cloud didn’t happen overnight, and neither did digital banking. It takes time to become mainstream and that’s where we’re at in the marketplace. The early adopters are in. It’s saving banks in many areas and keeping customers happy. The rest are beginning to follow.”

Invoice finance is a growing part of the overall trade finance market, particularly as traditional banks begin to expand their presence in the space through acquisitions or collaborations with trade finance FinTechs.

Last year, for example, Barclays led an investment in MarketInvoice to integrate its invoice financing solution into Barclays’ offering.