Financial Technology
SME Lending Platform
Initial Project Understanding
Challenge
Fragmented and inefficient SME financing onboarding due to manual KYC, documentation, and verification processes.
Financial Institutions
Struggle with manual, fragmented SME onboarding and KYC, leading to high costs, delays, and compliance risks.
SMEs
Face a complex and unclear financing journey, with high rejection rates and long turnaround times.
Regulators
Need standardization and auditability in SME lending processes
Solution
A digital B2B platform that standardizes and automates SME pre-assessment, from data collection and verification to bank-ready file delivery
Outcome
Accelerated, compliant, and scalable SME lending that benefits Financial Institutions, SMEs, and regulators.
Current Process Impact
We have gathered some key market metrics that highlight the real-world impact and inefficiency caused by the absence of an automated SME lending solution, to ensure how to bring value to key stakeholders.
01
60%
of Financial institutions report losing clients because of slow or inefficient KYC/onboarding processes.
02
70%
of financial institutions reported client files being rejected from risk department due to lack of clarity and KYC validation process.
03
50%
of Financial institutions report that KYC reviews are still less than 60% automated.
Solution Concept
The platform will serve as a trusted digital intermediary between SMEs and Financial Institutions by offering:
#1
Digital Intake & KYC
- Structured digital forms/questionnaires
- Document upload (corporate, identity,financial).
- Automated validation (format checks, completeness).
- Standardized templates aligned with FI requirements.
#2
Document Verification
- Automated document checks
- Cross-check against government/third-party databases
- Digital signatures&tamper-proof storage.
#3
Site Visit & Field Verification
- Task assignment to employees/agents for on-site
inspections. - Automatic integration of visit reports into client’s credit file.
- Supervisor dashboard to monitor site visit status and approvals.
#4
Access Control
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) ensuring leastprivilege access.
- Task allocation (who does what, deadlines, status tracking).
- Comprehensive audit trail (every action logged: who viewed, edited, or approved).
#5
Pre-Assessment File Generation
- Consolidation of all SME data, documents, site visit reports, and financial inputs.
- Automated formatting into a bank-ready creditfile.
#6
Integrations
- APIs with credit bureaus for score validation.
- APIs with government registries (e.g., MoC, ZATCA, Monsha’at, GOSI, Nafath…etc.).
- APIs with regulators
- APIs with FI internal lending systems.
#7
Credit Risk & Scoring
- Embed FI credit policies into the platform.
- Automated decision support(approve/reject/review flags).
- Customizable scoring models per FI risk appetite.
#8
Early Warning System
- Monitoring SME business performance (financials, invoices, turnover).
- Detecting environmental/sectoral risks (economic downturns, regulatory changes).
- Alerts & notifications for risk triggers.
#9
Compliance & Security
- End-to-end encryption of data in transit&at rest.
- PDPL-compliant data handling & storage.
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)for users.
- Secure auditlogs& monitoring.
- Regular penetration testing & vulnerability scans.
#10
Reporting & Dashboards
- Dashboards for FIs (pipeline of SME requests, file status, compliance flags).
- Analytics for SMEs (application progress, missing requirements).
- Regulatory reporting (pre formatted reports for compliance).
Value Proposition
The key to pleasing people isn’t agreement, it’s alignment—once you know their values, everything becomes possible
Financial Institutions
- Cost Efficiency
- Speed & Productivity
- Compliance & Risk
- Better Credit Decisions
Solution Owner
- Revenue Streams
- Data Asset
- Market Positioning
- Trust Partner for FIs
SMEs
- Simplified Journey
- Reduced Rejections
- Access to Financing
- Transparency
Regulators
- Standardization
- Auditability
- Compliance
- Market Oversight