Special to the American Banker
CFI Proservices Inc., which bills itself as the largest provider of PC banking software, has launched a product aimed at making commercial lending decisions easier and cheaper.
The new software, Fiscal Plus, combines credit scoring, spreadsheet analysis, and portfolio management.
It is designed mainly for institutions with assets of $300 million to $2 billion, which are considered the most likely to be lending to small businesses, said Greg Myers, a CFI spokesman.
Banks can build into the software the parameters and criteria that they consider when making a loan.
Once the analysis of applicant data is complete, the software produces a score of 1 to 10 that indicates how well an applicant meets the bank's standards, said Bob Brinsen, director of CFI's Halcyon division.
The Halcyon Group, which recently was acquired by CFI, contributed to development of the software package.
Fiscal Plus will help bankers evaluate marginal loans, said Barry Randall, software industry analyst at Dain Bosworth Inc. in Minneapolis. "It's easy to see which are the good loans and which are the bad ones," he added. "This product will assist bankers with the 80% in the middle that they wrestle with."
By highlighting the weaknesses that lead to turndowns, the product can help lending officers explain to applicants why they were rejected, Mr. Myers said.
"Clients can work toward correcting" the weaknesses, he added, "and move the loans to approval."
Using the product will yield a higher-quality loan portfolio over the long term, said Mr. Randall.
CFI's Mr. Brinsen estimated that the product would reduce the time spent on loan analysis to one hour, from six or eight hours.
Mr. Coplan writes for Medill News Service.
