Tide plans to launch overdrafts, new credit facilities and… peer-to-peer lending
via AltFi
Tide’s 150,000 small business account holders will soon be offered overdrafts, after the fintech signed a deal with financial services provider Mambu.
As part of the deal Tide is planning to revamp its lending options for SMEs, with overdrafts, credit cards and invoice financing.
But the most curious part of the arrangement is the potential for Tide to move into the world of peer-to-peer lending.
According to the announcement: “Tide also plans to allow members to lend to other members via different instruments that will be managed on the Mambu Platform.”
AltFi confirmed with Tide that this initiative, which is a long-term plan, “may take the form of peer to peer lending”.
The whole announcement is littered with interesting possibilities, but none more so than if the SME banking provider built a peer-to-peer lending platform into its core offering.
In one swoop it could bring together supply and demand, around a platform (Tide) whose revenue is not dependent on lending.
Tide’s talk of invoice financing is another curious avenue to explore, certainly one that will attract attention from industry heavyweight MarketFinance.
“At Tide, we have ambitious plans to provide multiple lending products in multiple geographies and in order to achieve that, we looked for a tried and tested solution which can help us to scale,” said Amit Kahana, VP of Credit Services for Tide.
“Mambu has an impressive track record of providing the type of products we need to provide our members with the best services, as well as accounting tools which make our finance department’s life much easier.”
With 150,000 customers Tide is no longer a small fry in the world of SME banking, and it’s brilliant to see both near-term aims and more exciting longer-term initiatives being worked on.
Plus, with the BCR warming up its next Pool of £100m up for grabs, SME players like Tide with exciting plans to help small businesses could soon be in the spotlight once again.
