Customers Bancorp Plans Online Loan Platform for Small Businesses

Customers Bancorp in Wyomissing, Pa., is building an online borrowing experience for its small-business clients.

Once the new platform launches, the bank’s customers will be able to apply for loans, upload and sign documents, and track the status of their loan applications from a mobile phone or web browser, according to an Oct. 26 news release. Biz2Credit, a small-business financing platform, is providing the technology.

"We believe our partnership with Biz2Credit is the logical next step for us as we continue to focus on customer convenience," Customers chief executive Jay Sidhu said in the news release.

The $7.6 billion-asset Customers Bank plans to roll out the new technology early next year, adding to its existing slate of digital resources. In February 2014, Customers Bancorp launched a free digital banking product called BankMobile, which in turn opened a new technology development division in August.

Customers Bank is not the first bank to develop a Web-based platform for small-business customers in an effort to keep pace with online marketplace lenders. Marlin Business Bank took a similar step in July. But many banks remain reluctant to follow that path, citing a range of concerns from hacking to worries about regulatory compliance risks.

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Marketplace lending Small business Mobile banking Community banking Digital banking Bank technology
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