OREANDA-NEWS. ING today announced it?s starting a strategic partnership with Kabbage, a leading technology and data platform powering automated lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The partnership fits ING’s strategy to expand its lending capabilities to SMEs and helps them to get the capital they need to grow.

On 14 October 2015, ING made public it had taken an equity stake in the US based fintech company in a financing round in which Kabbage raised USD 135 million.

As part of the partnership, ING and Kabbage will start a pilot in Spain, offering small and medium enterprises (SMEs) loans up to EUR 100,000. Kabbage’s automated loan application and approval process is both accelerated and simple for customers. It makes use of full credit scoring and real time risk monitoring and allows SMEs with an existing business account to get a loan within ten minutes, based on real-time business data.

“This partnership shows we are dedicated to creating a differentiating customer experience. After a successful launch, we will look into expanding the offering. This initiative perfectly fits our strategic priority to increase the pace of innovation,” Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING, said. “The cooperation is also in line with ING’s innovation approach to launch new services via both own initiatives and by working together with and investing in fintechs and startups.”

“As financial institutions embrace new lending technology, we see that platforms like Kabbage are interesting for them to provide a superior experience to their customers,” said Rob Frohwein, Kabbage co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “We are incredibly proud of our partnership with ING, and most importantly, we are thrilled to serve the small and medium businesses powering the economy in Spain.”