NAB expands unsecured loans to $100,000
(14 December 2017 – Australia) National Australia Bank (NAB) has announced A$100,000 unsecured lending for Australian small business owners to grow and expand. The lending vehicle will not require security such as property or cash.
According to the bank, business customers can apply via online “with conditional credit approval granted in minutes”, and the money transferred within 24 hours upon approval.
Executive General Manager Business Direct and Small Business Leigh O’Neill said, “There is often a perception that access to credit is difficult without a property or other major asset to secure against. That’s why we’ve responded by placing more emphasis on the strength of the business rather than traditional physical bricks and mortar, and we’re doing this at a fair and competitive price.”
NAB is the first major Australian lender to launch an online unsecured lending platform. Called QuickBiz, and first launched in June 2016, the bank initially provided loans of up to A$50,000.
“Six months after a QuickBiz loan application, just under half of our customers grew their business turnover by greater than 10 percent. This confirms we have an important role to play by offering finance to businesses with good prospects- it’s the the kick-start they need.”
“Small businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy. We need all parts of the economy - big business, government and industry - to get behind them to move the country forward.”
According to the latest research from East & Partners, an intensifying battle is emerging between NAB and CBA, who are, in terms of primary market share, positioned as the top 2 transaction banking providers to businesses with an annual turnover of between A$1 to A$20 million.
According to the biannual research, which interviews around 1,500 businesses, should the current multi-year trends continue, the market can expect CBA to overtake NAB in overall primary transaction banking market share in the next two years.
Alarmingly for Westpac, despite having maintained consistent multi-year “top of mind” status across all core products among the small business segment, the bank has failed to covert that into significant market share, trailing growth of major rivals CBA and ANZ.