Citigroup gains a stronghold in the digital banking sector with its new lending platform designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Citi’s digital platform, the Bridge by Citi helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to connect with regional, local, and community banks to avail of loans up to $10 million.
The Bridge by Citi allows small businesses to apply for loans in 18 banks, including six minority depository institutions situated in the Southeast and Rockies regions. They are located in Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee.
Some regional, local, and community banks that are available on the platform include Bancorp South Bank BXS in Tupelo, Bank OZK in Little Rock and Atlantic Capital Bank, a subsidiary of Atlantic Capital Bancshares, Inc. (ACBI) in Atlanta. There is no word as to when this feature will be available on a larger scale.
Many SMEs struggle to secure loans and it is time-consuming. Small lenders have limited access to digital tools to reach potential buyers, which illustrates the gap between the customers and lenders.
Citi’s new feature will instantly connect SMEs seeking loans with the local lenders through a slick, digital standardised system. The Bridge built by Citi platform makes lending more seamless, as borrowers and lenders track the loan process in real-time.
Citi allocated $5 billion in loans to SMEs
Richard Banziger, head of the US Commercial Bank at Citi said, "Citi believes in the power of local, small businesses and continues to find ways to support businesses that are the foundation of communities across the US. Citi funded loans amounting to $5 billion, as part of the Small Business Administration’s paycheck protection programme from 2020 to 2021”.
He added, "As a lender and community stakeholder, we have a deep understanding of the problems that businesses face when trying to navigate the borrowing process. We are committed to finding digital solutions that can make the process easier, more seamless, and equitable."
The new digital lending platform will help democratise the lending process for the lenders and borrowers by providing capital access for small business owners impacted by the pandemic and the underserved population.
The company has been working endlessly to build more digital trends for sometime now. Anand Selva, CEO at Citigroup’s US consumer banking division said they are not against extending the physical network, but expect the digital market will take the lead.
“We’d like to see a concentration of customers in our digital channels, and depending on that, we could be very open to extending physically, but not in significant quantities.”
Selva said the consumers are accessing the bank branches for advisory issues and complaints and this is the reason why branches are becoming the “advisory type centres”.