Barclays Bank has invested £3 million in Trade Ledger and committed to implement its working capital platform under a three-year technology deal.
The new platform will be put to use to provide end-to-end credit management automation for Barclays Corporate clients in the UK and around the world.
Using the online application form, Barclays’ customers can now transfer data directly through an API from their accounting software package. They also have the option to upload their data through a user-interface.
Once submitted, the Trade Ledger platform automatically generates a survey and risk report using a rule-based decisioning engine which is then despatched to the underwriters within hours of the application being received. The client is kept updated of the status of their application and a final decision is typically received within two days, including an indicative offer.
James Binns, global head of trade and working capital at Barclays, says: “Businesses need access to reliable, flexible finance now more than ever. Investing in and implementing the Trade Ledger Platform will allow us to make lending decisions faster and more efficiently, using real-time data drawn from a rich variety of sources, and powerful workflows. This drives faster time-to-money, reducing the cost of funding in supply chains, which has huge benefits for our corporate banking clients and the communities they support.”
Martin McCann, CEO and co-founder of Trade Ledger, comments: “Our history with Barclays goes back to 2018 when we won the Barclays Open Innovation Challenge and, from then on, we have worked with the bank’s leadership team to identify areas of the bank where our technology could be applied to deliver transformational value to the bank’s lending processes.”
Trade Ledger last raised £13.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Point72 Ventures in February 2021. The Australian fintech’s client base includes Virgin Money, Nord/LB and HSBC..