Lloyds, ConnectedFi Team For Faster Credit Decisions

Lloyds Bank has teamed with ConnectedFi in order to provide brokers with quicker asset finance credit decisions by using automation, according to Financial Reporter.

Lloyds will now integrate its asset finance application programming interface (API) into the FinTech software company’s asset finance customer relationship management (CRM) platform, which will give brokers using the CRM the option to submit finance proposals directly to the bank with a new level of speed, the report stated. The information is extracted and validated automatically.

The whole process reduces manual work by 87 percent, according to Financial Reporter. In addition, the “time to decision” for asset finance credit requests is sped up, too, and brokers can access status updates to proposals in real time. That way, brokers will no longer have to ask for updates manually.

According to Andrea Melville, managing director at Lloyds Bank Commercial Bank, as quoted by Financial Reporter, the speed at which the asset finance credit processes could take place is of paramount concern to brokers surveyed.

“We developed the asset finance API to directly address that need,” she said in the report. “Ultimately, it helps them become more agile in the marketplace and gives them a competitive edge. Partnering with ConnectedFi to build the API into a CRM is a new approach for us. Through this model, we can work directly in marketplaces to add value for both platforms and brokers, fostering a more connected, streamlined business ecosystem.”

ConnectedFi CEO Kaushik Chakravarti said the team-up had “pulled together experts from very disparate procurement, integration and IT infrastructure teams to help us integrate and deploy in a matter of weeks.”

“They beautifully blended the thoroughness of a traditional bank with the agility of a start up,” he said, according to Financial Reporter.

The digitization of data collection for finance has been a focus as businesses seek the best, most accurate ways to get funding. Analysis of data, such as what’s being done by the U.K.-based SME Data Hub, can be used to track economic performances and gain advantages based on who’s doing what in the market.