Launched today, the Financial Services Disruption Index, which has been jointly developed by Moula, the lender to the small business sector; and research and consulting firm Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) shows that Financial Services are undergoing disruptive change, thanks to customers moving to digital channels, the emergence of new business models, and changing competitive landscapes. Combing data from both organisations, we are able to track the waves of disruption, initially in the small business lending sector, and more widely across financial services later.
The index tracks a number of dimensions. From the DFA Small business surveys (26,000 each year), we measure SME service expectations for unsecured lending, their awareness of non-traditional funding options, their use of smart devices, their willingness to share electronic data in return for credit, and overall business confidence of those who are borrowing relative to those who are not.
Moula data includes SME conversion data, the type of data SMEs share, the average loan amount approved, application credit enquiries, and speed of application processing.
The index stood at 33.02 from May to July 2015, and rose to 33.94 in the August to October period. The higher the score, the greater the disruption. Of note SMEs are becoming more aware of non-traditional unsecured lending options, are becoming more demanding in terms of application processing times, are more willing to share data and are more likely to apply using a smart device. In addition, the loan values being written are rising, more businesses are willing to share richer data, and the confidence levels among borrowing SMEs is on the rise.
Overall, unsecured lending to the SME sector is being disrupted significantly, and we expect the index will continue to trend higher, as awareness of alternatives to traditional banking continues to rise, and more firms apply for credit.
- The average expectation duration was down from 9.2 days in Q3 2015 to 7.5 days this quarter. SMEs continue to expect better service standards when applying for credit. Whilst they accept it may take a few days for an application to be processed, the survey data shows that many think a week should be enough to complete an unsecured loan and get money into their account, and they expect to receive regular progress reports and updates on the way through.
- We see a rise in awareness among SMEs of the availability of alternative credit solutions and greater familiarly with the tag “Fintech”. This month 3.75% of businesses recognised the concept, up from 2.74% last month, and momentum is increasing.
- More business owners are using smart devices to run their business. They expect access to a wider range of services this way, and more immediate responses. Last quarter 42.6% of businesses used a smart device, this time it was 44.6%, and the rate of adoption is increasing.
The index is featured in an SMH MySmallBusiness article today.
