Metro Bank has announced a new partnership with Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) provider, ezbob, to provide the bank’s business customers with ‘fast, secure and competitive’ access to finance.

The bank suggested its new service will help in delivering a seamless, end-to-end small business lending process, enabling SMEs to apply for business finance online. It is set to launch for Metro Bank customers in mid-2020.

The new partnership comes as Metro Bank indicated it is to inject ‘much needed’ competition into the small business banking market – using the funding it was awarded from the Capability & Innovation Fund, alongside the bank’s own investment.

In 2019, Metro Bank also announced partnerships with Funding Options, Conance and DueDil as part of its commitment to collaborating with UK SMEs and fintechs by embedding them into the products and services it provides.

Metro Bank chief commercial officer, Paul Riseborough, commented: “We know quick, reliable access to finance is crucial for small businesses to seize opportunities to grow. By teaming up with ezbob, we’ll be able to help our customers secure the finance they need in a matter of minutes, giving them the edge in today’s competitive market.”

Metro Bank added that ezbob – with its streamlined, fully managed digital lending proposition for financial institutions – has a platform which harnesses the latest AI advancements and data from the open banking environment.

ezbob founder and CEO, Tomer Guriel, added: “We are very proud to be able to provide Metro Bank, one of the UK’s most forward-thinking banks, with an automated SME lending solution that will cover the entire lending journey – including all aspects of compliance, risk and decisioning.

“We see this as a long-term partnership and look forward to working with Metro Bank to ultimately deliver an outstanding, multi-product experience to its customers using ezbob’s market-leading solution.”

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