Shawbrook achieves milestone in asset finance transactions

Shawbrook’s digital SME team has announced a new milestone, having funded over £100 million in asset finance transactions through its auto-decisioning technology since its introduction in 2022.

Shawbrook’s Broker Portal allows brokers to upload and progress cases, obtaining fast auto-decisions on qualifying flow deals under £250k.

Shawbrook’s decision to implement auto-decisioning feeds into its wider objective of creating an efficient decisioning process to support the nation’s SMEs whilst also emphasising the importance of human touch, with every deal that is not auto-accepted being passed to an expert within the team to review the auto-decisioning outputs.

Applications for Shawbrook’s CapEx Term Loan product can also qualify for auto-decisioning. This fixed-term, unsecured loan offers financing for both tangible and intangible assets up to £100,000 and is specifically designed to empower the UK’s SMEs. Since its launch, Shawbrook has seen significant demand for the new product, and take up has played a significant part in the milestone being reached.

With the macroeconomic picture beginning to shift in a positive direction, and interest rates starting to fall, SMEs’ appetite for funding has increased, with more deal applications being submitted. The usage of auto-decisioning allows Shawbrook to approve straightforward deals with increasing speed and ensure businesses get access to the funding they need as early as possible.

Shawbrook continues to invest in and develop the digital journey to ensure the best user experience for brokers and business prospects alike.

Stuart Doignie, managing director, of digital SME lending at Shawbrook commented: “At Shawbrook, we pride ourselves on our ability to implement cutting-edge digital tools whilst also retaining the all-important human touch with an end goal of creating the best possible experience for both our brokers and the SMEs that turn to us for their funding needs.

“When we integrated auto-decisioning two years ago, we had a vision of creating a portal that greatly speeds up the often-over-complicated decision-making process on deals and we are pleased to report it has been a big success, as today we announce that the £100 million milestone has been reached.”

“The increasing popularity of our asset finance products is both a testament to the efficiency of our process and a gauge of the appetite the nation’s SMEs have for obtaining funding and growing their enterprises. We hope our broker portal continues to be a valuable aid to brokers and businesses going forward and we will continue to develop and adapt to ensure the best possible user experience for our partners. I would like to thank everyone involved, from our hard-working development team and relationship managers through to our brokers and business partners for making this milestone a reality.”