FINANCE
Business Wire | September 29, 2023
Credibly, the data science-driven fintech lending platform that champions small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), is partnering with Green Dot to expand its suite of small business financial products to include accessible, intuitive and useful business banking solutions. Powered by Green Dot’s banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, Credibly Business Banking® will give small business owners a more seamless banking experience while addressing some of their greatest challenges with quick and easy account set up, improved cash flow management, and faster access to capital.
“The demand for seamless, accessible and intuitive financial tools for businesses remains on the rise, and we are thrilled to partner with Green Dot to add small business banking to complement our lending solutions,” said Ryan Rosett, Founder and co-CEO, Credibly. “With a business checking account, customers will have faster and easier access to the cash, credit and capital they need to run and grow their business.”
The U.S. continues to see a surge in new business ventures, with five million applications to start new businesses in 2022, up 42 percent from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to the Census Bureau. Yet more than three-quarters of small business owners say they are concerned about their ability to access capital, according to Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Voices initiative, which is no surprise given 70 percent of small business owners without a business bank account are rejected for loans.
Green Dot and Credibly are partnering to design business bank accounts with these challenges in mind, empowering them to more easily access the capital they need. The new accounts will feature online mobile banking with full customer service support, quick account set up, no fees for eligible deposits, overdraft protection, and a nationwide ATM network to access their money from anywhere.
“Small businesses are a critical engine for economic growth, and we want to give them the power to bank seamlessly, affordably and with confidence,” said Simran Singh, Head of Enterprise Business Development, Embedded Finance, Green Dot. “We are thrilled to partner with Credibly to power entrepreneurs with solutions that save them time and provide easier access to the tools and capital they need to grow their businesses.”
Green Dot is well positioned to enable Credibly to offer small business customers a quality business banking experience through its scalable and configurable BaaS platform, dedicated customer support team, and decades of experience building embedded finance offerings for some of the world’s largest brands.
The Credibly Business Checking® offering is just one of multiple new product launches the company has on its roadmap. As Credibly continues to grow its product suite, the company remains focused on further refining its data science capabilities to serve an even broader range of SMB customers throughout the credit spectrum, while maintaining its emphasis on risk management and a strong culture of compliance. Providing the tools and resources SMBs need has been Credibly’s mission since 2010 and the new business banking offering in particular will enable them to support small business owners who have been unable to receive lending without having an existing business bank account.
About Green Dot
Green Dot Corporation is a financial technology and bank holding company committed to giving all people the power to bank seamlessly, affordably and with confidence. Green Dot's technology platform enables it to build products and features that address the most pressing financial challenges of consumers and businesses, transforming the way they manage and move money, and making financial empowerment more accessible for all.
Green Dot offers a broad set of financial services to consumers and businesses, ranging from debit, prepaid and payroll cards, to embedded financial and money movement services, to tax products and more. The company’s banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform enables a growing list of the world’s largest and most trusted consumer and technology brands to deploy seamless, configurable, value-driven money management solutions for their customers. Its digital bank GO2bank offers consumers simple and accessible mobile banking designed to help improve financial health over time. And its expansive Green Dot Network of more than 90,000 retail distribution locations nationwide – more than all remaining bank branches in the U.S. combined – enables it to operate primarily as a "branchless bank."
About Credibly
Credibly, a data science-driven fintech lending platform, is revolutionizing the delivery of capital to SMBs, enhancing speed, cost and customer choice. Offering an array of funding options, Credibly also provides partners access to its state-of-the-art data science capabilities.
Since its inception in 2010, Credibly has channeled over $2.0 billion in capital to more than 30,000 SMBs, always with an unwavering commitment to risk management and a culture of compliance. Credibly also made history in 2017 as the first company in its field to acquire servicing rights to another alternative lender’s portfolio (250M). The company has achieved steady growth, operated continuously throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and recorded exceptional origination numbers.
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FINANCE
Mastercard | September 25, 2023
Mastercard has introduced new tools to assist small businesses with payment processing, financing, and cybersecurity.
Small businesses are adapting to an increasingly digital business environment, even amid labor shortages, to meet customer expectations.
Mastercard's Digital Doors program offers resources, including a Marketing Hub and cybersecurity toolkit, to help small businesses.
Mastercard has expanded its suite of services catering to small businesses, introducing an array of new tools to assist companies in areas such as payment processing, securing financing, defending against cyber threats, and more.
Ginger Siegel, the North America Small Business Lead at Mastercard International, highlights that this expansion aligns with the efforts of small businesses to adapt to an increasingly digital business landscape.
The ongoing labor shortage has presented challenges for many small enterprises in recruiting essential staff. However, despite these hurdles, companies must continue evolving to meet customer expectations, particularly in terms of digital interaction and seamless payment processing.
A recent survey by PwC Global reveals that 89% of financial technology, banking, and payment businesses polled believe that the continued growth of e-commerce necessitates significant investments in online payment solutions.
In response to these challenges, Mastercard is proactively addressing the needs of small businesses through various services, many of which are integrated into its Mastercard Digital Doors program. This initiative initially emerged as an online resource center during the pandemic, offering an array of tools to assist small businesses in establishing an online presence, facilitating digital payments, enhancing cybersecurity, and streamlining various other digital operations.
One notable addition to the Digital Doors program is the Marketing Hub platform, designed to connect small businesses with select service providers capable of meeting their specific needs. Furthermore, Digital Doors now provides additional resources to aid small business owners in promoting their operations effectively.
According to a Mastercard study, the second most significant challenge for small and medium-sized businesses is acquiring new customers, even though 47% of companies report being in a "growth mode."
The Digital Door Marketing Hub extends valuable savings on supplementary services to support businesses in their marketing and advertising endeavors. This includes discounts of 20% on specific Hootsuite services geared toward enhancing social media marketing, as well as discounts of 40% on selected FedEx Express shipping services and 20% on selected FedEx Ground shipping services.
Another crucial service Mastercard Digital Doors offers is its collaboration with the Global Cyber Alliance. This partnership delivers a Cybersecurity Toolkit for Small Businesses, equipped with scanning tools that identify and assess vulnerabilities in data encryption and website security. This toolkit empowers small businesses to fortify their defenses against online fraud and malicious internet traffic.
Mastercard goes a step further by providing education and coaching initiatives tailored for small firms, including a partnership with Hello Alice, a platform that assists entrepreneurs in navigating financial and operational challenges, further demonstrating Mastercard's commitment to empowering and supporting small businesses in their journey towards growth and success.
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FINANCE
PR Newswire | September 27, 2023
BMO today announced the expansion of its Zero Barriers to Business program for Black, Latino, Native, and Women-owned businesses across the bank's expanded footprint. The program aims to break down barriers for historically underserved and marginalized groups through inclusive banking products, services, and resources as part of BMO EMpower 2.0 – the bank's more than $40 billion community benefits plan. As part of the expansion, BMO has committed $200 million in lending to support the progress of minority-owned businesses.
BMO's Zero Barriers to Business now helps business owners in 22 states – including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
"Helping our clients, colleagues and communities make real financial progress is at the core of our Purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life," said Niamh Kristufek, Head of U.S. Business Banking at BMO. "The launch of BMO's Zero Barriers to Business to our expanded footprint brings us one step closer to a more inclusive society – especially for groups facing systemic barriers – by ensuring our clients have access to capital and financial tools and education."
According to BMO's Real Financial Progress Index, more minority business owners report they have started a business this year or plan to compared to non-minorities, with 16 percent of Black respondents starting a business, 9 percent of Latino, and 7 percent of Asian-Americans. Nearly 20 percent of U.S. small business owners are minority-owned, according to Forbes' Small Business Statistics of 2023 – but according to Fed Small Business' 2022 Report on Firms Owned by People of Color, borrowers of color were about half as likely as white-owned applicant firms to receive all of the financing they sought.
Specifically, BMO's Zero Barriers to Business includes:
Better access to capital:Business owners receive access to working capital with expanded credit criteria and competitive interest rates. Small businesses can get a revolving line of credit and/or business credit card that will allow them to pay interest on what they borrow. They can also qualify for rate discounts when setting up automatic payments from a BMO Business Checking account and get improved access to funding with specialized credit criteria.
Access to education:Free access to practical tools such as business plan templates, profit improvement calculators, podcasts, webinars, and coaching to help business owners make real financial progress.
Access to partnerships:BMO is continually forming new partnerships with organizations that give business owners access to meaningful networks, additional coaching, educational resources, and alternative funding sources.
Since launching the program in late 2020, the bank has helped minority small businesses make real financial progress by:
Approving$80 millionsmall business loans.
Funding more than 3,400 small businesses.
Providing more than 800 hours of educational webinars and business literacy workshops supporting 5,000 business owners in collaboration with organizations such as Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Chicago Urban League, Sunshine Enterprises, and Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation.
Graduating 45 clients fromZero Barriers to Businessto qualify for traditional lending programs under standard lending criteria.
Securing 40 non-profit Community Development Financial Institutions Funds (CDFI) partnerships to support access to capital, education, and networking opportunities for diverse small business owners.
The expansion also comes during Hispanic Heritage Month along with a $500,000 commitment by BMO to support the creation of a Latino Business Loan Program with Colorado Enterprise Fund. The fund aims to eliminate barriers and support inclusive economic opportunity for small businesses across Colorado.
Ceyl Prinster, CEO, Colorado Enterprise Fund said,
Colorado Enterprise Fund's mission has always been to provide access to capital to underserved communities including minority-owned small businesses. With the funding from BMO, CEF will focus even more economic and educational resources toward Latino small business entrepreneurs throughout Colorado.
[Source – Cision PR Newswire]
About BMO Financial Group
BMO Financial Group is the eighth largest bank in North America by assets, with total assets of $1.25 trillion as of July 31, 2023. Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a diverse team of highly engaged employees providing a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking products and services to over 13 million customers across Canada, the United States, and in select markets globally. Driven by a single purpose, to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life, BMO is committed to driving positive change in the world, and making progress for a thriving economy, sustainable future, and inclusive society.
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