Home > News > featured news > Abrigo partners with Charm Solutions to launch AI-powered engine that accelerates SMB lending decisions

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, FINTECH

Abrigo partners with Charm Solutions to launch AI-powered engine that accelerates SMB lending decisions

PRnewswire | March 24, 2023 | Read time : 05:00 min

Abrigo, the leading technology provider of compliance, credit risk, and lending solutions for financial institutions, today announced the launch of Abrigo Small Business Lending Intelligence. This lending decision and monitoring engine is powered by Charm Solutions, a provider of AI technology that helps financial institutions unlock the full potential of their data, identify growth opportunities, optimize operations, and improve financial decisions.

According to FFIEC call report data, small business (SMB) loans made by banks in the U.S. grew to nearly 27 million in 2022. Many institutions have indicated that SMB is a continued, targeted area for growth in 2023, following the successful Paycheck Protection Program during COVID-19, which led many lenders to build or deepen relationships with SMBs in their communities. A barrier to growth for many institutions is efficiency. In a recent Abrigo survey, nearly 60% of financial institutions indicated that efficiency was the top challenge in small business lending.

Abrigo Small Business Lending Intelligence is embedded into the Abrigo loan origination platform and provides real-time scorecards that include a loan risk rating score, probability of default, and details of how the score was calculated. Using Charm's dynamic models along with existing processes, institutions can improve their decision-making by incorporating an array of data sources and leveraging analytics to gain actionable insights.

The engine leverages self-learning AI to continuously monitor a wide range of current and historical data, loan performance, accounting, and macroeconomic data from more than 1,200 institutions. Abrigo Small Business Lending Intelligence is transparent, providing institutions insight into the data and processes used for its scoring model. Abrigo Small Business Lending Intelligence also provides an early warning system alerting banks to changes that may impact an institution's entire loan portfolio before they become an issue.

"By leveraging the power of automation and AI, financial institutions can provide the small businesses in their communities with the funds they need faster while ensuring they have the right risk management controls in place for their lending processes," said Ravi Nemalikanti, CTO of Abrigo. "We are very pleased to partner with Charm to develop this innovative solution that advances our mission to help communities thrive."

"We are proud to power the Abrigo Small Business Intelligence platform with our proprietary AI-technology and help thousands of financial institutions make faster and better decisions to grow their SMB loan portfolio profitably and move the economy forward," said Jacob Malmborg, CEO of Charm Solutions.

About Charm Solutions

Charm Solutions is an AI software platform used by leading lending institutions to quickly and transparently analyze, decision, and monitor SMB loans, and by SMBs to gain insights into their financial health and use Charm's proprietary SMB Score™ report to receive actionable recommendations and efficiently secure the best financing alternatives to grow their business. Learn more at www.charmsolutions.ai

About Abrigo

Abrigo is a leading provider of compliance, credit risk, lending, and asset/liability management solutions and services that help financial institutions thrive. Abrigo accelerates growth, increases client efficiency, and improves customer experience with an easy-to-use and expansive platform. We ensure customer success with our award-winning client service team, advisory expertise, and innovative technology. With a network of 2,400+ FIs, Abrigo offers unique opportunities for insightful peer benchmarks and best practices. Visit abrigo.com to learn more. Follow Abrigo on social media using @WeAreAbrigo.

Spotlight

Zendesk ROi Ebook/Guide Gérer les coûts, soutenir la croissance et favoriser la fidélisation en période de ralentissement économique

Les périodes d’instabilité et d’incertitude économiques poussent les responsables de service client à faire face à des défis inédits. Ces difficultés se divisent généralement en trois catégories : Maintenir les coûts sous contrôle et hiérarchiser les investissements S’adapter à la croissance et rechercher des moyens créatifs d’a

More featured news

Spotlight

Zendesk ROi Ebook/Guide Gérer les coûts, soutenir la croissance et favoriser la fidélisation en période de ralentissement économique

Related News

CORE BANKING, FINTECH

Paysend Expands Bank Account Transfer Capabilities to Latin America

PRnewswire | April 11, 2023

Paysend, the card-to-card pioneer and international payments platform, is solidifying its money transfer services to Latin America by enabling U.S. customers to send money to Latin America quickly, securely and for a low fee through transfers to bank accounts. Since launching transfers to bank accounts in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico in 2022, U.S. customers will now be able to transfer money to friends and loved ones bank accounts in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. "At Paysend, we understand that remittances play an important role for our customers in supporting their loved ones," said Jairo Riveros, title, Paysend. "Given the current macroeconomic conditions, transferring funds play an even more important role, because it's being used to cover necessities like food and housing. By offering card-to-card, card-to-bank or card-to-digital wallet transfers, we're making it easier, and more affordable, for our U.S. customers to send money back home when their loved ones need it the most." Empowering the Unbanked Communities in Latin America Today, 70% of LatAm's population remains unbanked or underbanked. With a mission to improve financial inclusion across the globe and support migrants looking to send money back home, Paysend has stepped in to offer low fee, fast and secure transfers for the community as current economic pressures have made it more difficult to send funds. This expanded offering comes on the heels of Paysend launching its Paysend Libre solution powered by Mastercard Send technology last year. With Paysend Libre, unbanked recipients located in Northern Central America (i.e., Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador) can receive and utilize funds from the U.S. instantly through digital card. As a global end-to-end payment platform, Paysend has a strong global payments network that includes partnerships with the major international card networks, including Visa, Mastercard and China Union Pay. ABOUT PAYSEND Paysend is a next-generation integrated global payment ecosystem, enabling consumers and businesses to pay and send money online anywhere, anyhow and in any currency. Paysend is UK-based and has global reach having been created in April 2017 with the clear mission to change how money is moved around the world. Paysend currently supports cross-network operability globally across Mastercard, Visa, China UnionPay and local ACH and payment schemes, providing over 40 payment methods for online SMEs. Paysend can send money to over 100 countries worldwide. As a global end-to-end payment platform, Paysend has its own global network of banks and international and local payment systems and has partnerships with the major international card networks Visa, Mastercard and China Union Pay as a principal member and certified processor.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Centime Introduces New Working Capital Credit Solutions in Partnership with FNBO

PRnewswire | May 26, 2023

Centime, a Boston-based fintech that offers comprehensive cash management and banking solutions to small-to-midsize businesses, today announced a new set of credit products in partnership with bank partner FNBO. Together, Centime and FNBO are joining forces to combine the modern convenience of online banking and credit solutions with the stability and trust of a 165-year-old financial institution. "Businesses need well-priced credit solutions that can flex to meet their changing liquidity needs," said Carrie Zoucha, Vice President at FNBO. "With Centime, we're able to simply and easily allow customers to access short-term credit online, supported by the bank's resources." In recent years, many small and mid-sized businesses have turned to online lenders, but a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland cites concerns over their transparency on pricing, data privacy and product features. The report notes the critical role of credit, stating: "The Federal Reserve has an ongoing interest in small businesses and their access to the credit they need to succeed and grow." As a fresh entrant into the online lending market, Centime's banking solutions combine the ease and accessibility of a modern fintech solution, while addressing the pitfalls called out by the Federal Reserve. With CentimeCredit, businesses benefit from: Only paying for credit that is used No prepayment penalties No origination fees or monthly fees No minimum periods Ability to draw cash as needed or use the integrated AP Automation solution to pay suppliers directly Visibility over their cash position on a rolling, real-time basis Clear, upfront pricing, without hidden charges and fees or prepayment penalties "We're proud to bring the ultimate flexibility and convenience to CentimeCredit customers, by giving them the freedom to pay virtually any expense with a card or credit line," said Sergio Tzianos, Chief Product Officer of Centime. "We've made the application process simple, the administration is convenient and modern, and it's all provided by a trusted partner in FNBO." This latest addition to Centime's full suite of cash management applications is designed to round out its offerings on cash flow forecasting, AR and AP automation, and banking solutions. And it's a timely introduction, in the wake of recent turmoil in the banking industry that has many financial experts predicting an upcoming credit squeeze for SMBs. "Securing cost-effective credit is an essential component of any cash management strategy, but in light of recent turmoil in the banking industry, now is an especially important time for CFOs to think about how to get that credit from a provider they can trust," said BC Krishna, CEO and Founder of Centime. "We're confident that FNBO is the ideal partner for that, and we're excited to join forces to give customers a convenient and modern user experience from a trusted bank partner." About Centime Centime, Inc. is a Boston-based fintech led by a veteran team of banking, payments, design and fintech professionals. We are bound by a shared desire to help small to mid-sized businesses thrive through strategic cash management and banking solutions. Learn more at www.centime.com About FNBO First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, Inc. (FNNI). FNNI and its affiliates have nearly $30 billion in assets and 5,000 employee associates. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Founded in 1857, FNBO has maintained its commitment to helping build strong communities for more than 165 years. Learn more at fnbo.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PAYMENTS, FINTECH

Lockstep Accelerates Payments through its Free, Self-Service Portal

Businesswire | April 21, 2023

Lockstep, the connected accounting network, today announced that Lockstep Self-Service now allows companies to accept payments online from their customers using Stripe or PayPal or the merchant processor of their choice. Combined with Lockstep Inbox, Lockstep Self-Service – the latest application in the Lockstep Suite – is a free solution that allows users’ companies to manage their AR and AP workflows in one place. “A major pain point for B2B companies is the lack of a cost-effective, automated e-commerce solution to accelerate payments,” said Matt Shanahan, Cofounder and VP of Strategy. “By activating payments in Lockstep Self-Service, we are furthering our vision of connected accounting by helping companies automate the collections and cash application while improving the customer experience. Companies using Lockstep Self-Service get paid faster with less effort.” Companies can give customers online access by sending an email containing a Lockstep Self-Service magic link. Once customers use the magic link, they can see their statement, individual invoices, past history, and now make payments. There are clear and simple options to pay multiple invoices or partial amounts. Once paid, the payment information is tracked and applied against the open balances of the invoices to automate the recording of payments. In addition to making it easy for customers to pay, Lockstep Self-Service gives tools for accounting departments to track adoption of online payments with analytics. Signing up for Lockstep Self-Service is easy as it connects directly into the user’s ERP and integrates with Lockstep Inbox. In addition to payments, Lockstep Self-Service is introducing a new customer analytics feature. About Lockstep Lockstep is a connected accounting network that automates accounting workflows between companies. The pioneer in Connected Accounting, Lockstep allows accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) teams to automate all their receivables and payables workflows in one place, improving productivity, cash flow, and working capital. Lockstep has won numerous awards including the 2022 BIG Innovation Award, 2022 Top Accounting Solution by CFO Tech Outlook, and Most Promising Fintech Solution by CIOReview.