(7 January 2025 – United Kingdom) Lloyds Bank and Mastercard are spearheading a new coalition formed by the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), aimed at creating technological, policy, and regulatory solutions to help the UK’s 5.6 million small businesses access external finance more easily.
Building on CFIT’s earlier work, the initiative will explore Digital IDs and Open Finance frameworks, with additional participation from leading financial institutions. The project is scheduled for launch in Q1 2025 and represents the next step in CFIT’s mission to support SMEs.
Established in 2023 with support from HM Treasury and the City of London Corporation, CFIT is expanding its revenue streams through a combination of publicly and privately funded research and development. Charlotte Crosswell, Chair of CFIT, emphasised the importance of this coalition: “This new strategic agreement with industry partners positions CFIT strongly for its next phase of growth and is testament to the success of our coalition-led approach to date. We are also working closely with industry on other key projects for 2025, such as smart data schemes in financial services and delivering more inclusive financial service propositions.”
The coalition plans to introduce a digital finance education tool and a digital marketplace for SMEs. It also aims to expand CFIT’s prior initiatives, such as the development of an SME resilience index to provide lenders and financial service providers with better decision-making tools.
Elyn Corfield, CEO of Business & Commercial Banking at Lloyds Bank, highlighted the coalition’s goals: “By entering into a strategic partnership with CFIT for this next coalition, we aim to accelerate the development of the SME finance market, creating smart-data-driven solutions that help SMEs access appropriate funding. If we can improve awareness of different financial options and increase the number of SMEs applying for suitable finance so that they can invest in their infrastructure, products and services, they can better play their vital role in boosting UK growth.”