Business credit checks | Credit and affordability insight | Credit decisioning and scoring | Credit Decisions

4 ways to grow your commercial lending

Published September 2024

| Business credit checks | Credit and affordability insight | Credit decisioning and scoring | Credit Decisions

Written by John Griffiths

For over ten years, John has been engaging with clients in the UK to help them better understand their commercial customers, advocating the smart use of business data to support them not just from a credit risk perspective, as is his current focus, but more broadly in assessing their needs in the market.

Achieving sustainable growth needs more than just increasing loan volumes

It requires a nuanced approach to lending that balances opportunity and risk. This blog explores four straightforward yet impactful ways to grow your commercial lending operations. By using data-driven insights, integrating new technology, diversifying product offerings, and enhancing client relationships, you can not only attract a broader range of clients but also ensure that your lending practices remain robust and risk-right.

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Here are four strategies to grow your commercial lending.

1. Enhance customer relationships

Enhancing customer relationships is crucial in growing commercial lending. It fosters trust and loyalty, leading to long-term business partnerships. By deeply understanding your clients’ needs and challenges, you can tailor financial solutions that not only meet their immediate requirements but also support their future growth. Having a personalised approach encourages clients to return for additional services, increasing their lifetime value.

Strong relationships can often lead to referrals and positive word-of-mouth, helping grow your customer base. Offering a personalised service can differentiate you from your competitors and help grow your lending.

2. Diversify product offerings

Diversifying product offerings can be a powerful strategy for expanding commercial lending as it allows you to cater to a broader range of client needs and market segments. By introducing a variety of loan products—such as asset financing, new lines of credit, green loans and specialised loans for different industries—you can attract businesses with diverse financial requirements. This not only increases the potential customer base but also spreads risk across different types of loans, reducing the impact of sector-specific downturns. A diversified product suite enables lenders to cross-sell and upsell, enhancing revenue opportunities from existing clients.

Being able to offer tailored financial solutions positions lenders as versatile and responsive partners, thereby driving sustained growth and stability in their lending portfolios.

3. Leveraging data-driven insights

Data is the key to understanding your clients and how to expand your offerings. Using data-driven insight is a vital element in growing commercial lending, helping you make informed decisions and tailor offerings to the specific needs of your clients. By using advanced analytics and data, you can get a deeper understanding of market trends, customer behaviours, and risk factors. This information allows for more accurate credit assessments, reducing the likelihood of defaults and enhancing the overall quality of the loan portfolio.

Data-driven strategies can also help identify underserved market segments and emerging opportunities, allowing you to proactively develop targeted products and services. As a result, using a greater breadth of data not only improves the efficiency and effectiveness of lending processes but also encourages innovation and responsiveness, ultimately driving growth and competitive advantage.

Are you using the best data available to you to help grow your portfolio? Consider using:

Credit reference agency bureau data

See the latest credit trends for your customers

Current account turnover

How healthy is your customer’s current account and their level of affordability?

Reviewing lost opportunities

Take a look back on who would have made good risk

Check for hidden risks

Understand any blind spots in your portfolio

Sustainability insights

How green is your customer?

Sector analysis

Which sectors offer the best opportunity for your growth?

4. Introduce new technology

Introducing new technologies is a transformative strategy for driving growth in commercial lending, helping efficiency, accuracy, and customer satisfaction. The adoption of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics can revolutionise the assessment of risk, processing of applications, and managing of transactions. For instance, using advanced analytics can help get a more detailed and accurate assessment for your customer, and enable quicker lending decisions.

Frictionless digital platforms can help streamline the customer experience, offering clients seamless online applications and account management. Integrating the latest innovations not only helps improve internal processes but also meets the evolving expectations of tech-savvy businesses, helping create a more agile and efficient working environment using the latest capabilities.

How can we help?

Each of these strategies is designed to not only increase the volume of lending but to do so in a manner that is risk-aware and client-focused, carving out a route to sustainable growth in the commercial lending sector.

Working with us offers a unique advantage in growing your commercial lending portfolios. As a global leader in data analytics, we can provide access to a wealth of insights that can enhance the lending process. You can access advanced credit scoring models, comprehensive market intelligence, and cutting-edge data solutions that support more accurate and efficient decision-making. We can help you mitigate your lending risks and uncover new growth opportunities by identifying potential clients and underserved markets.

In a market where precision and speed are critical, collaborating with us equips you with the tools and insights needed to expand your portfolio safely and effectively, ultimately driving long-term success.