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HSBC has slashed its approval process for new receivables finance customers from one to two months to under 48 hours using a new platform powered by Trade Ledger.  

Tech tools that use automation to compile and analyze data allow lenders to make approvals much faster, without increasing risk – which ultimately allows them to serve more businesses (with greater returns).

HSBC has rolled out a digital platform for collateral-based receivables finance lending that it co-created with fintech Trade Ledger to make it simpler, faster, and more secure for business clients to apply for working capital.  

Instead of requiring businesses to manually upload invoices, the online platform uses an application programming interface (API) to let customers automatically transfer data from their accounting software, which it then uses to generate a survey and risk report. The software also provides task orchestration across teams, which allows HSBC’s underwriters to receive each report and application within hours of a customer completing it.  

This new process saves time and effort for customers at the front end and for HSBC at the back end. Trade Ledger’s product optimizes receivables finance and eliminates typical hurdles, a spokesperson told Insights Distilled: “Complex business lending fits across many areas and teams of a commercial bank, all with differing priorities. In contrast, Trade Ledger, as a tech start up, has a blank sheet of paper” to “focus on this problem end-to-end.” 

In general, Trade Ledger’s clients see, on average, a 60% reduction in origination cost, a 97% reduction in manual errors, and a 50% reduction in dropouts, which can boost ROI.