Working Capital Copilot program now open for banks looking to grow SMB lending portfolio

LONDON, Oct. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the launch of its new generative AI-enabled Working Capital Copilot solution at Sibos 2023, Trade Ledger is now accepting applications from banks to join its beta program which is being deployed by Accenture. Copilot, which is built on top of Trade Ledger's data platform, "is the last component of the tech stack required to effectively crack open the $120tn embedded lending opportunity for working capital finance", said Trade Ledger CEO Martin McCann.

Just a small number of banks will be accepted for the beta program, giving them exclusive early access to the world's first generative AI interface for embedded complex business finance. Copilot will not be generally available to other Trade Ledger customers until sometime in 2025.

The Trade Ledger data platform is already being used by banks such as HSBC and Barclays in 15 countries to cut the application to decision time for working capital finance to 48 hours. Copilot is built on top of the platform and will be available to banks participating in the beta program to distribute to their customers as a simpler way to understand and apply for working capital credit.

Through Working Capital Copilot, participating banks will be able to give their business customers the ability to query their financial data to identify where they need capital and when. Through an API connection with the bank, Copilot then finds bank lending products that fit that need.

Copilot goes to the heart of the roadblocks SMBs (businesses with $10-50mm in revenues) have historically experienced accessing working capital finance. These businesses often don't have the resources or in-house expertise to analyse their cash-to-cash cycle and determine their working capital needs. Copilot, which is built on the Azure OpenAI Service and accessed through Microsoft Teams, uses advanced Large Language Models (LLM) to interpret conversational language queries about cash management and create algorithmic queries of the Trade Ledger database.

It analyses profit and loss statements, sales ledgers, supplier data, balance sheets, trading co-party behaviours, credit bureau records, and more and provides actionable insights into invoices, payments, and other transactions impacting cash flow. Bank integration via API provides the SMB with real-time information on available working capital products, with matched options based on cash flow status, creditworthiness and specific business requirements.

The business may then apply from within Microsoft Teams, with the application to decision process being handled speedily through the Trade Ledger platform.

"Applicants for the beta should see working capital lending as a core differentiator, and have an aggressive growth strategy for the assets on their balance sheet in the small to mid-market sector", continued Martin McCann. "They should also have strong brand recognition, an appetite for change, and already be dedicating significant resources to digital transformation.  If growing the lending book two percent per year is OK, this program will not be right, nor will it be right for banks that believe transformation is just going from documents to OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

"At Sibos 2023 we heard from a number of financial institutions that there's a clear and obvious need to recognise and leverage the power of AI. For those that do, they can capture the very evident market opportunity of SMB lending. We are looking forward to productionising this solution imminently with banks in the beta programme."

Banks interested in applying for the beta program can contact Trade Ledger at CopilotBeta@tradeledger.io

For further information contact: 

Trade Ledger Press Office:  Wendy Harrisonwendy@harrisonsadler.com