(22 May 2025 – Australia) Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has made multiple changes to its asset finance offering, as it seeks to significantly reduce SME credit approval turnaround times, including for brokers.
CBA has made several changes to its asset finance offerings in a bid to fast-track approvals and documentation. The Big Four major will now allow qualifying small-business customers to apply for car and equipment finance valued up to A$500,000 with no additional documentation required. Qualifying small-business customers can also now receive same-day approvals on a range of equipment and machinery, including yellow goods, cars, vans, and light trucks, according to the lender.
Despite demand picking up over the past month from business owners investing in vehicles and equipment, time delays remained a major issue for companies seeking asset finance.
East & Partners research previously found that 94.4 percent of business decision-makers highlighted speed to approval and settlement as their top priority.
In another move to speed up sign-off, qualifying business customers can receive documentation the same day as approval and sign digitally for a range of eligible assets up to A$1 million. Virtual inspections will be offered for brokers to improve turnaround times via a partnership with mobile inspections and vehicle assessment services firm Redbook Inspect.
“For brokers, we’ve introduced virtual inspections with Redbook Inspect to help speed up the process in situations where we need to conduct inspections of assets. Redbook Inspect delivers consistent, high-quality reports, greater flexibility and convenience to both customers and brokers – so it’s a win-win. It’s all part of how we’re investing in automation to cut our turn-around times and deliver faster approval and funding for our customers” commented CBA General Manager, Asset Finance, Renee Theodor.
“We are very focused on ensuring access to capital to help drive productive capacity and for small and medium-sized businesses, this means making it simpler and easier to access funds. We know that when a business is ready to make the leap and invest in that asset, they want speed and simplicity in their car and equipment finance, that’s why we’ve recently made conditional pre-approvals available for eligible small business customers with a car or equipment finance need.”
“This means we’re able to assess the customer based on their history with us, with no additional documentation required. The changes are part of CBA’s ongoing investment in automation to cut turnaround times and deliver faster approvals and funding for customers. What we hear from customers over and over is that their investments in new assets drive productivity growth through things like time savings, energy efficiency, speed, computerisation, automation.”