The partnership was driven by a growing need across the SME lending world for better visibility over SMEs’ cash flow and finances, through real-time data sets. Despite SMEs accounting for more than 60 per cent of all private sector jobs in the UK and a rapidly growing sector of interest for banks, these businesses continue to face the challenge of accessing timely finance. Research shows that around 30 per cent of SMEs are initially declined by their banks, forcing them to look for alternative methods, such as P2P lenders, specialised asset finance companies, invoice financing or using credit cards to obtain finance and manage their cash flow.

More recently, SMEs have also been struggling to remain operational and are battling to secure loans from major banks that underestimate their running costs, as inflation reaches a 40 year high and economic uncertainty makes accurate forecasting and cash flow management all the more challenging.

Leveraging key data sets and predictive analytics continues to play a crucial part in the digital transformation of most banks and a growing number of financial institutions are looking to find alternative ways to enhance their operational efficiencies. With real-time accounting data enabled through Validis, the Aryza Vantage platform is one of the first platforms that delivers actionable insights within a customer permissioned environment. The use of aggregated data sets allows both fintech and traditional lenders to tailor their banking services to specific business needs and make quicker, more informed decisions whilst retaining customer confidence in their services.

Andrea Varga, Head of Innovation at Aryza said, “There are numerous research papers indicating that the UK`s SME market is still hugely underserved and there is an obvious need for further innovation within this space. At Aryza, our vision is to address the increasing need to digitise the lending process through access to data and actionable insights, and we’re very excited to partner with Validis to help tackle this pressing issue. We wanted to create a truly Open Finance Platform that removes the friction of sharing data and allows both SMEs and lenders to communicate better with each other and financial institutions to become a trusted partner of their customers.”

Paul Thomas, CEO of Validis said, “We’re really excited to announce our latest partnership with Aryza. We have a very powerful joint-capability that will support banks and lenders to enhance their lending processes, delivering faster access to finance for their customers and attain sophisticated data and insights to provide improved in-life management. At a time of economic uncertainty, it’s critical that SMEs get the right support at the right time, and this new capability addresses a prevalent industry challenge faced by many banks and lenders in the UK.”