For our first digest today, we take a look at how Cloud banking platform Mambu has launched a fully digital solution for SME lenders. The market-leading SaaS cloud banking platform has unveiled a fully digital solution for SME lenders that cuts costs and speeds time to market. The platform provides banks and fintech companies with robust, scalable loan management technology. Not only that, but it also provides them easy access to an ecosystem of partners such as web-based identity authentication, credit checks and loan origination. These partners are vital to lenders wanting to offer speedy loan approvals — a key competitive advantage. According to the International Finance Corporation, it is estimated that there is an unmet financing need of $5.2 trillion every year across 65 million firms. At the same time, there is more pressure on SME lenders to deliver low-risk decisions quickly via a fully digital customer experience. Mambu’s SME lending solution is designed for such needs and offers great flexibility in order to quickly adapt to changes. Yanir Yakutiel, CEO of Australian SME lender Lumi, said Mambu’s cloud-native digital lending platform has allowed them to respond rapidly when market conditions change. Moreover, it has allowed them to update existing products and launch new options for their customers within a matter of days. These new services come with the right timing because the pandemic has really driven the need for more digital solutions among SME lenders. With solutions like Mambu’s cloud lending platform, SME lenders are now able to service a more diverse range of customers excluded from traditional lending services.

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For our second digest, there is an undoubted paradigm shift to how high-net-worth individuals are investing their money, but how does technology help? Recently, Insider Intelligence published its How HNWIs Invest report, which highlighted details about this demographic. Before we get into it, it is important that we first remind ourselves what counts as a High-Net-Worth individual. HNWIs include individuals or households with at least $1 million in liquid assets. Even though this demographic encompasses only 6.8% of US households, they control nearly three-quarters of total household financial assets. So why is this worth knowing? Well, Baby Boomers will pass down $68 trillion in wealth over the next 30 years. That means that HNWIs are increasingly younger and tech-savvier, plus the pandemic will also heighten older consumers’ expectations regarding digital financial services. Having this in mind, wealth managers have homework to do to enhance their offerings. There are three key things the next generation of HNWIs want improvements in. First of all, the onboarding process needs to be quicker and more streamlined by automating data entry and compliance checks. Next, wealth managers need to offer omni channel capabilities since by 2024, only 20% of engagement will occur face-to-face. Lastly, new age HNWIs care more about having an ESG strategy rather than just a purely-for-profit strategy, they want their portfolios to reflect this. All of these new demands can be solved with the right digital tools. There is no doubt it is the responsibility of wealth management teams to prioritize these tools in order for them to stay competitive.