Atom bank and Credit Kudos partner to help small businesses bounce back

• Atom bank is partnering with Open Banking credit reference agency Credit Kudos to automate the assessment of small business loan applications and offer real-time insights into businesses’ current financial situation.
• Atom’s partnership with Credit Kudos is part of a programme of investment in Open Banking data and automation as Atom aims to support an additional £1bn of lending to 10,000 small businesses over the next two years.

Atom bank is partnering with fintech Credit Kudos to further enhance its open data capabilities for business loan affordability assessments and deliver £1bn in lending over the next two years.

Unlike a traditional credit assessment, Credit Kudos uses Open Banking data to provide a holistic, up-to-date view of both individuals’ and business’ finances. This helps lenders understand the current financial position of the applicant and offer them the right lending at the right time – something that has become even more important during the pandemic.

Through this partnership, Atom will use Credit Kudos’ categorisation and risk insights to automate underwriting assessments, enabling real-time decisions and improving the customer experience compared to traditional paper based processes. The Durham based bank will be able to immediately verify income and understand what credit repayments a small business can afford.

Enhanced insights will also allow Atom to offer loans to smaller and younger businesses which do not have assets to secure against finance, and Credit Kudos’ predictive forecasting will help Atom reduce the risk of defaults in future.

The partnership between Atom and Credit Kudos will initially focus on secured small business lending with plans to expand this to unsecured business lending and to support its residential mortgage lending by the end of 2021.

Edward Twiddy, Chief Customer Officer at Atom bank, said: “Our partnership with Credit Kudos will allow us to further expand the range and accelerate the pace of our lending. We’re delighted to be working with another fintech challenger to bring insights based on Open Banking data into the heart of Atom’s decision making - both for business customers and for our award winning mortgages. After a year when we’ve tripled the amount of business lending on our books, we’re now well set to take Atom on to even greater levels of efficiency and engagement thanks to the investment we’re making with Credit Kudos. ”

Freddy Kelly, CEO and founder of Credit Kudos said: “Over the past year it’s been increasingly difficult for lenders to understand the current financial situation of individuals and businesses. Traditional credit reports are not up-to-date or extensive enough, but Open Banking data allows us to provide lenders with a real-time, holistic overview of an individual or businesses’ finances, as well as a prediction of future circumstances. Our partnership will help Atom bank make significant advances to its services and support even more small businesses in the coming months and years.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

For all media enquiries contact: Robyn Margetts/Emma Harvey: creditkudos@seven-consultancy.com

About Credit Kudos:

Credit Kudos is an FCA-authorised credit reference agency and Open Banking Account Information Service Provider (AISP) that uses financial behaviour to measure creditworthiness. Through direct connections to the UK’s largest banks, Credit Kudos aggregates and interprets transaction data for use by lenders, brokers, and financial institutions. Credit Kudos goes beyond traditional scoring, providing a comprehensive view of a borrower’s creditworthiness. We transform complex sets of information in our easy-to-use, digital first tools to help everyone make better lending decisions.

Credit Kudos most recently won ‘Innovation of the Year’ and ‘Credit Information Partner of the Year’ in the Consumer Credit Awards 2020 and was named one of the top fintechs in Europe to watch in the FinTech50 2020. Credit Kudos’ founder, Freddy, was also named in London’s Most Influential People 2019: Fintech and Banking.

About Atom bank

Atom bank launched operations in April 2016, offering market-leading Fixed Saver accounts and secured business lending for small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’), followed by its automated mobile mortgage proposition in December 2016. Atom launched an Instant Saver in September 2020. With a competitive rate, no short-term bonus, no limits on withdrawals and no minimum amount required at opening, the instant saver offers people much-needed flexibility while their cash works harder for them.

Atom are a mobile only and customer first bank. Based in the North East of England with a team of over 400 people, they’re here to do the right thing by their customers with outstanding levels of customer experience whilst taking the fight to the incumbents with exceptional levels of efficiency. At the heart of the bank is the app, with an award-winning customer support team on hand to help with any queries through phone, chat, email and social media.

Atom is an engaged and active part of the North East Community and in 2017 announced a four-year STEM partnership with the Prince’s Trust in North East England.

The Atom executive team are highly experienced, having built and run some of the most well-respected banks in the UK. CEO Mark Mullen has 30 years’ experience in the sector and was previously CEO at the multi-award-winning telephone and internet bank first direct. The team is supported by a strong non-exec board, chaired by Bridget Rosewell CBE.