iwoca, a London-based business lender, has launched Open Banking for all new customers with a Lloyds Bank account.
The release means the FinTech is now the first ever business lender to connect with any of the UK’s nine largest banks under the Open Banking initiative, which was launched in January 2018.
By securely linking their Lloyds Bank data, business owners can now provide iwoca up to five years of transaction history with a ‘few quick clicks’ of a mouse. This speeds up the lender’s already swift application process even further for Lloyds customers, reducing the time they spend submitting bank information to less than 60 seconds.
Following the implementation, iwoca is looking to launch future integrations with Barclays, HSBC, RBS, Santander and others within the coming weeks, according to Christoph Rieche, CEO and co-founder.
He added, “But realising the great potential of Open Banking depends on the cooperation of each bank and on small business owners trusting and understanding the Open Banking process. Therefore, it’s critical for banks and Government to do all they can to enable and encourage the adoption of Open Banking. This will create greater competition in small business lending and, as a result, better, fairer services for small business owners.”
iwoca provides loans of up to £200,000 to small and micro businesses across the UK, Germany and Poland via its website and through partner integrations using its proprietary Lending API and now in the UK through the Open Banking API.
The FinTech was an early participant in the Open Banking initiative, forming a dedicated Open Banking team in January 2018 to seize on the many opportunities the initiative can create for its customers.
“Ultimately, we’re excited about the potential for Open Banking,” Rieche. “It brings us closer to our vision of making business loans as easy as booking a flight online. Plus, we believe it will help us take a big leap toward achieving our goal to fund one million small businesses – 100,000 of them in the next five years. More successful small businesses means vibrant local communities and stronger economic growth.”
Copyright © 2018 RegTech Analyst
