Bank-FinTech Collaboration Tackles SMB Finance Friction

Bank-FinTech collaboration continues to thrive as more financial service providers place small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) front-and-center of product development.

This week’s look at the most recent initiatives in partnerships and open banking reveals a focus on SMB lending and finance, while Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) also gains traction to allow non-banks to offer their own banking services to corporate customers.

HSBC Collabs With Biz2Credit For SMB Loans

HSBC is adopting Biz2Credit‘s Bix2X Platform to streamline its SMB lending processes. Highlighting the need to accelerate access to capital for SMBs, HSBC said it is integrating Biz2X within its existing HSBC Fusion offering to speed up credit application approval. Biz2Credit’s technology can also enhance underwriting to mitigate risk even further for the financial institution (FI), it said. In a statement, HSBC Bank USA Head of Retail Business Banking Shaun McDougall said fueling the SMB community is important to support the broader U.S. economy.

Progress Bank Taps Sensibill For Digital Receipts

With a focus on its corporate customers, Progress Bank, which operates in Alabama and Florida has tapped data and financial management technology company Sensibill to integrate its digital receipt management capabilities. Citing the challenge of business owners and executives that lack the time to visit the bank branch, Progress Bank said Sensibill’s technology supports businesses’ needs to capture and store their receipts from a digital banking app. “Such functionality allows the businesses to more easily track spending, separate business and personal expenses, and better manage their overall financial health,” a press release stated.

Nucleus Software Debuts Supply Chain Tech For Banks

Targeting FIs, Nucleus Software has rolled out its latest technology with a focus on supply chain risk mitigation. An upgrade of its existing transaction banking offering, FinnAxia 7.5, the new offering elevates risk mitigation for banks to support corporate customers’ supply chains by reducing the risk of disruptions. Both banks and businesses can access a holistic view of transactions through supply chains with integrated loan lifecycle management, invoicing management and delivery capabilities. The technology heightens visibility of funds as they flow through procure-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles, the company noted in its announcement.

Railsbank Lands Funding For BaaS

Bank-FinTech collaboration isn’t all about FIs ingesting third-party products and services. BaaS is further driving partnerships to help FIs upgrade their back-office infrastructures. The technology is also opening up the doors for non-banks to introduce their own banking services to customers. One BaaS company, Railsbank, impressed investors, which provided $37 million in funding for the U.K. company. MiddleGame Ventures and Ventura Capital led the round with the investment fueling the BaaS arena as open banking continues to blur the lines of the types of companies that offer banking services.

Allied Irish Bank Embraces LendScape Receivables Finance

Accounts receivables financing solution provider HPD LendScape is now collaborating with Allied Irish Bank (AIB) to overhaul the FI’s lending operations, according to a press release. AIB’s receivables financing operations in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland will be hosted by HPD LendScape, targeting SMBs with a range of features, including a new web portal for borrowers to manage their financing needs. In a statement, LendScape said the partnership is the first time its platform “has been hosted for an existing major bank client.”

Yapily Broadens Open Banking Tech Into Germany

U.K.-based Yapily is a B2B FinTech that helps businesses connect with their banks via a single application programming interface (API). The company is expanding, having announced its launch in Germany, according to a blog post on the company’s website. Yapily pointed to the rise of challenger banks and FinTechs in the Germany market, which creates greater demand for open banking technologies that can allow businesses to integrate into their customers’ banking data and use that connectivity to develop new products and generate new revenue streams. “Germany is a source of innovation and has always been a key hub for banking and financial services,” said Yapily CEO and Founder Stefano Vaccino in a statement. “We are looking forward to starting operations in this market, bringing our first-class API infrastructure to the region.”