Metro Bank Links With ezbob For Same-Day SMB Loans

SMB solutions

To provide a digital lending offering for small business clients, Metro Bank has collaborated with banking software provider ezbob. The new offering will move clients through application to identity and verification, documentation, offer and acceptance over a period of minutes, which will allow funding to be released on the same day in the end, according to reports.

Metro Bank Chief Commercial Officer Paul Riseborough said, according to reports, “We know quick, reliable access to finance is crucial for small businesses to seize opportunities to grow. By teaming up with ezbob, we’ll be able to help our customers secure the finance they need in a matter of minutes, giving them the edge in today’s competitive market.”

Metro Bank had also unveiled tie-ups with Conance, DueDil and Funding Options last year as part of its efforts to work with British small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as FinTechs by bringing them into its offerings. And, in 2019, Metro Bank received £120 million from the bail-out fund of RBS to bring additional competition into the small business banking market.

In February, news surfaced that Metro Bank said it will return £50 million from the RBS fund after it recently pulled back from plans to grow and came to the decision to move away from mortgage lending. The company’s plans were thwarted when it was revealed that it was miscategorizing a number of loans when determining capital requirements.

The error caused the departures of CEO Craig Donaldson as well as Chairman Vernon Hill. The bank had to rework its strategy after results in Q4 showed a pre-tax loss of £130.8 million, which included a £68 million write-down related to stopping IT projects that are no longer part of the strategy of the bank.

The bank no longer plans to open 15 new locations in northern England. The BRC Capability and Innovation Fund, which has been doling out capital to challenger banks that have a small business lending focus, had promised 30 new locations.