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How Metro Bank supported SMEs in challenging times

Overview: How Metro Bank supported more SME businesses through challenging times

Overcoming the obstacles to growth in SME lending

Metro Bank are a retail and commercial bank based in the United Kingdom, who offer banking services to both business and personal customers. Metro Bank offer their customers a range of banking products, including banking accounts, personal loans, business bank accounts, insurance, and credit cards.

The norm within commercial lending has always been a predominantly manual process, lack of consistency and speed, coupled with a difficult experience for businesses that often need to access finance quickly. Metro Bank was intent on changing that. They recognised the need to change this industry norm to find a way to serve each customer’s specific needs, with the goal of automating as much of the process as possible. Find out how Experian helped make that a possibility.

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Challenge overview

SME’s up and down the country are feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis as consumer spending power is increasingly stretched, and hesitations around lending continue to grow. For Metro Bank, their customers all used to follow the same credit risk assessment process, based on manual interrogation. There was often a lack of consistency and speed with decisions taking days to come through, meaning that many businesses who needed finance quickly were deterred from applying.

Metro Bank recognised the need to change the industry norm to find a way to serve each customer’s specific needs, with the goal of automating as much of the process as possible.

Challenges
  • Predominantly manual processes causing lack of consistency and speed
  • Effects of the cost-of-living crisis meaning consumer spending power is increasingly stretched
  • Hesitation growing around lending
View Metro Bank Profile
Company Bio:

Metro Bank are a retail and commercial bank based in the United Kingdom who offer banking services to both business and personal customers. Founded in 2010, Metro Bank were the first high street bank to open in the UK in over 100 years and have since opened 77 stores across the UK. Metro Bank offer their customers a range of banking products, including banking accounts, personal loans, business bank accounts, insurance, and credit cards.

Established: 2010
Industry: Banking
Number of employees: 5000+
Partnering with Experian has enabled Metro bank to tangibly improve its lending offering and service to SME customers through an automated, digital unsecured lending journey. Experian's expertise across credit bureau data, decision systems and credit risk consultancy has been critical to delivering on this objective.
Ermal Ngjeci, Head of SME Credit Risk, Metro Bank (UK)

Solution overview

Metro Bank took a unique route – investment in both Experian’s PowerCurve for Customer Acquisition and Experian’s PowerCurve for Customer Management, rather than one or the other. Having them both in place and ‘connected’ before launching its new automated proposition for SME lending was transformational for the bank. Both platforms enabled instant access to new datasets, categorisation of that data (through CATO) and the ability to automate, turning the insight into action.

Our next generation decisioning system enabled Metro Bank to instantly access new datasets, categorise that data, and automate processes, turning insight into action.
Learn how PowerCurve can help your business
Results
  • Quicker lending decisions without any underwriting on overdraft applications up to £60k
  • Instant access to new datasets, categorisation of that data and the ability to automate
  • Implementation of customer-centric and personalised strategies automatically
Solutions
How Metro Bank supported more SME businesses through challenging times

How Metro Bank supported more SME businesses through challenging times

Download full case study
Data and analytics: the cornerstones of a credit decisioning platformRead more
Five reasons why it’s time to change your credit risk decisioning systemRead more
Guide to choosing a credit decisioning providerRead more

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