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Two of the big four banks, along with business lender GetCapital, have been appointed by Treasury to participate in phase two of the federal government’s SME Guarantee Scheme.
Treasury has confirmed that NAB, Westpac and GetCapital have been selected to participate in phase two of the SME Guarantee Scheme, which commenced on 1 October.
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GetCapital CEO Jamie Osborn welcomed the lender’s continued participation, which he said would provide the third-party channel with greater flexibility.
“We’re pleased to have played a meaningful role writing over 1,000 scheme loans in phase one,” he said.
“In phase two, we’ll ensure brokers continue to have options for their SME clients.”
Mr Osborn claimed that the lender is “uniquely placed” to provide unsecured credit to borrowers using its “scalable technology”.
“Our technology enables us to assess SMEs on their cash flow, not their family home, so we can provide access to capital faster,” he added.
GetCapital uses proprietary Bank Connect technology, designed to facilitate faster, paperless credit decisions.
“It means SMEs can seamlessly link their transaction account, from any bank,” Mr Osborn said.
“It’s a glimpse into the future of open banking and saves business owners time and administrative burden. And it’s times like these when efficiency and certainty really matter.”
The government has expanded phase two of the scheme following criticism from banks, brokers and non-banks.
The maximum loan size has increased from $250,000 per borrower to $1 million per borrower, secured products have been included in the offering, and loan terms have increased from a three-year limit to five years.
The first phase of the scheme saw limited uptake, with Treasury revealing that it supported just 15,600 business loans worth $1.5 billion up to July 2020 – while the entire package was up to $40 billion.
It is expected that other lenders that have applied to participate in the scheme, such as Suisse-backed fintech Tradeplus24 Australia, which be confirmed in the coming weeks.
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