A customer that feels connected to a brand is often loyal to that brand. That seems to be the unwritten leit motiv of Dutch-based digital bank FIBR, which launched late last year, and is completely dedicated to lending to small and medium-size businesses across Europe.
Despite appearances, FIBR isn't exactly the newest kid on the block, but the new name of Amsterdam Trade Bank, which provided banking products to European savers and financial institutions for over 25 years, and now pivoted into SME lending under the new brand FIBR.
Its team, which secured a 70 million equity investment, is also made up of talent steeped in entrepreneurial, technology and alternative lending experiences - they have co-founded fintechs and scaled ventures such as ABN-AMRO’s New10 and Revolut.
By combining the stability of a bank with the attitude of a fintech, FIBR was launched to help SMEs thrive in a ‘digi-dominance’, post-pandemic climate, where business owners across Europe face intense pressure and need funding more than ever to support their growth. The digital bank thus made it its mission to help the European economy recover by enabling the success of SMEs, which represent about 99% of all businesses in the old continent.
FIBR’s technology platform provides access to funds by lending through local lenders and offering a fully integrated suite of modular components that these lenders can leverage to accelerate growth, such as payments, loan administration and funding. Utilising SaaS, FIBR has built a platform that is API-first, fully cloud-native, and with data at its core. Their banking-as-a-service platform is designed not only to facilitate lending, but also the needs of lenders, so that customers are supported in every stage of their life cycle.
This supporting strategy is proving to be a winning one, with a five-star rating on Trust Pilot and a two-day turnaround time. Fast, fair and flexible, FIBR is now betting on its customers’ newly-acquired business agility as a response to Covid-19. Some of its customer recommendations go from being receptive to change in order to navigate lean times, to encouraging brokers to provide well-planned solutions, building a stronger rapport in the long term.
Another of their more visible commitments to supporting small and medium businesses is their ‘deal of the week’ or ‘deal of the month’ campaigns, where FIBR’s social media shines a light on a variety of awardees of 250,000 GBP-worth loans in disparate sectors from eco construction to hospitality or retail.
FIBR is now on a path to become a pan-European SME lender. Europe’s combined economies depend on a thriving SME sector and yet, access to finance is one of the most important challenges facing small businesses. FIBR’s partner ecosystem enables the digital bank to design and execute a holistic model to support compliance, transparent onboarding and digital lending products to service SMEs who need finance for growth.
Find out more about how FIBR does big things for small and medium enterprises in this success story, or revisit our blog Why speed of innovation is as important as direction.