NatWest bank introduces ‘Esme’ lending platform to cope with fintech firms

National Westminster Bank (NatWest), a large retail and commercial bank in the U.K., announced that it has launched a lending platform that promises near-instant loan decisions for Small and Medium-size enterprises (SME’s) in order to compete with growing fintech startups, ComputerWeekly reported.

The lending platform enables loan approval as fast as those offered by peer-to-peer lenders. The ‘Esme platform’ will offer unsecured loans to SMEs of up to £150,000 and will be an additional lending platform in NatWest’s portfolio.

“We’ve already broadened choices for customers, but we wanted to go one step further and create our own alternative lending platform,” Alison Rose, CEO for commercial and private banking at NatWest, said, as reported by ComputerWeekly.

Fintech startups hover over in order to increase their share in the lending sector. As a result, the traditional banks like NatWest are fighting back in bringing their own digital platforms that provide quick and easy loan applications.

The Esme platform was developed at NatWest’s innovation unit along with Ezbob, a fintech company that is behind the bank’s lending platform. Esme will help the bank in retaining the market share since P2P lenders attract SME business.

Apart from NatWest, many other major banks have implemented their own digital lending platform. Thai’s largest bank by revenue Kasikornbank Pcl, unveiled recently that it is launching a new fintech platform later this year, in order to produce faster, easier, and lower-cost online banking transactions. Also, ABN AMRO collaborated with Dutch invoice management firm InvoiceSharing to develop an innovative fintech solution for SMEs, CCN reported.