Westpac and Prospa in trial lending partnership
(20 November 2015 – Australia) One of Australia’s “Big Four” banks, Westpac has been trialling a partnership with the online lender Prospa according to reports.
Currently, the small business lender is receiving referrals from Westpac to its loan application site.
The bank has been in discussion with all the new online SME lenders, including US based OnDeck, according to Tonia Berglund, Westpac's product portfolio director of SME business lending.
Berglund has told Fairfax that Prospa has been an early mover in the online SME lending space, thus developing a good database on business credit history. She added Westpac had not made a formal announcement as the partnership was still in an initial trial period.
Jim Tate, Westpac's head of product, said: "Small business owners often find it difficult to apply and obtain timely funding. That's why we are working with innovators such as Prospa to provide online access to capital no matter what time our customers shop doors open or close."
Prospa chief executive Beau Bertoli indicated that the two firms had been negotiating a deal for approximately six months.
"We are trying to prove up the concept really," he said. "We are working together to establish what the customer is looking for and to figure out what type of customer would be looking for more of a digital access to finance and how we leverage the capabilities of each other," he said.
Recent research from East & Partners Business Banking Index found that only 9 percent of SMEs could name a “fintech” lending, with only a fifth of those able to describe their product offering.
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