Zürich-based lender, TradePlus24, has selected Australian deep tech startup, Trade Ledger, as its global technology partner to roll out its new trade insurance wrapped lending product across their European lending network, and enter the Australian market.
TradePlus24, backed by Credit-Suisse, chose Trade Ledger because its platform not only automates the entire credit assessment process, allowing for rapid scale, but because it can also assess SME supply chain data in real-time while calculating risk down to the individual invoice in real-time – two things no other lending tech can currently do.
“A major problem for banks and other lenders across the globe is the cost, effort, and perceived higher risk of loan origination in the SME sector in particular,” said Martin McCann, CEO and Co-Founder of Trade Ledger.
“This sector has long been plagued by outdated credit assessment technologies that prevent lenders from easily or cost-effectively acquiring real-time information about persistent risk, individual transactions, or trade document updates.
“The result is enormous uncertainty, leading lenders to either applying a premium, or avoiding lending to individual SMEs altogether. According to PWC’s recently released report, the Australian SME working capital gap is more than $90 billion as a result – though this is on the low side of our estimates.
“By removing these technical limitations around documentary trade processes, and completely automating the credit process, lenders can significantly reduce the cost of loan origination, completely eliminate certain types of risk and fraud, and rapidly increase the volume of their loan book – all without adding extra staff,” continued Martin McCann.
“We are extremely excited to partner with TradePlus24 because we feel their secured global receivables financing solution is unmatched in the Australian market, and allows SMEs and mid-market companies to leverage their domestic and export accounts receivables in a completely new and unique way.
“We believe this makes them one of the most advanced SME lending products in the world, so we’re extremely proud to assist in bringing such a quality product to the local market,” concluded Martin McCann.
The Trade Ledger platform will facilitate TradePlus24’s entrance into Australia, which is a market deemed highly attractive because of its historically high margins and minimal competition from global players.
TradePlus24 expects to select a local Australian banking partner, but wanted a “born global” solution for its technology needs, to automate and manage its entire global operation spanning Europe, Asia, and Australasia, all on one advanced platform.
“To realise our growth ambitions, it was imperative to find a comprehensive technology solution that could be seamlessly applied across our entire global value chain,” said Ben James, CEO of TradePlus24.
“We believe the future of lending is not with slow-moving lenders employing legacy technologies, rather with strategic technology partnerships that give lenders a competitive edge by cracking the SME working capital market.
“It’s our opinion that the Trade Ledger platform is the key to cracking this market for us,” concluded Ben James.
For more information on Trade Ledger: www.tradeledger.io and TradePlus24:www.tradeplus24.ch/index.php/en/
