Lloyds Banking Group, a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales with around £436 billion in assets, is reportedly planning to run a 6-month trial or pilot of an invoice financing platform offered by Satago Financial Solutions. If the testing period is successful, then Lloyds may offer a 5-year commercial contract to the financial services firm.
Satago Financial Solutions’ management states:
“Satago is a flexible invoice finance, debt chasing and risk insight platform that has been designed to help businesses get paid on time – every time. By providing invoice finance Satago bridges your cash flow gaps allowing you to focus on growing your business. Our automated debtor chaser and risk insight tools will help you significantly reduce your debtor days while saving time.”
The company is an accredited partner with major players in the accountancy and Cloud accounting software sectors.
As part of the testing phase, Lloyds Bank will be providing financing to Satago’s customer base by utilizing the firm’s digital cashflow management and invoice financing system. Satago will receive a recurring fee for each client of the Bank that utilizes the new technology.
Sinead McHale, CEO at Satago, stated that Lloyds’ brand and reach, along with their technology and speed of execution is a good example of how established banking institutions and innovative Fintechs can work cooperatively to offer better outcomes for SMBs.
Ben Stephenson, MD and Head of Invoice Finance and ABL at Lloyds Bank, said that the proposition will help provide “critical” funding and digital tools to SMEs based in the UK. This should help them navigating the “challenging external environment,” Stephenson added.
As reported in November 2020, Lloyds Bank will be shutting down 56 branches. The institution also confirmed last month that it would cut 160 jobs as consumers are increasingly using digital banking services (and not visiting physical locations as much) during the pandemic.