(22 October 2015 – Spain) ING is to begin offering loans of up to €100,000 ($A157,000) to Spanish small businesses through Kabbage, an automated lending platform.
Earlier this month, the U.S. based startup raised €119 million from its latest funding round which included investments ING, Santander InnoVentures and Scotiabank.
The company uses data generated through business activity such as accounting data, online sales, shipping and dozens of other sources to provide fully automated funding to small businesses in minutes.
Ralph Hammers, CEO of ING, said: “This initiative perfectly fits our strategic priority to increase the pace of innovation,”
“The cooperation is also in line with ING's innovation approach to launch new services via both own initiatives and by working together with and investing in fintechs and startups.”
Last year, the bank announced plans to cull around 1700 jobs and spend €200 million over the next three years to upgrade and streamline it IT systems.
ING said it will expand the service to other markets should the Spanish pilot program be successful.