Virgin Money slashes loan application time through fintech

Virgin Money has cut the time it takes to apply for a business loan from days to minutes, via fintech from Trade Ledger.

The bank, renamed from Clydesdale and Yorkshire Group, has agreed a three-year contract with lending-as-a-service software supplier Trade Ledger.

The process of applying for a business loan at the bank previously took up to five days, but through the software, which automates decision making, this can now be complete in as little as 20 minutes.

Trade Ledger’s business lending platform analyses data and automates key lending processes.

Graeme Sands, head of business lending and products at Virgin Money, said the technology aggregates accounting and business credit data, speeding the process while managing risk.

He said the automation will free up time for staff to provide customer services. “Importantly, the efficiencies the Trade Ledger platform will deliver also mean that our relationship managers will be able to focus more on supporting customers where it’s most needed, rather than being involved in time-consuming manual processes.”

The platform’s real-time pre-screening tool can be completed in minutes, providing business customers with an eligibility decision instantly. “By directly accessing accounting data from a variety of software packages and business credit insight from Experian, the typical five-day application process will be reduced to 20 minutes,” said the bank.

In the face of stiff competition from challenger financial services providers, which use the latest technology to improve customer services, traditional banks such as Virgin Money are using fintech services to speed up customer services.

CYBG took over Virgin Money following a £1.7bn deal in October 2018, creating the UK’s sixth-largest bank as Virgin Money.