I want to first acknowledge those areas in the Midwest and all of the farmers, small businesses, and communities impacted by the current flooding that is so widespread and appears to be long from over as the winter ice melts adding more pressure to the swollen rivers and tributaries. I cannot imagine the struggle so many will have in the coming year or two to recover. Our hearts go out to all those affected and to our bank and credit union customers in these areas.
We just finished a two-week exhibit tour in March to the GAC in Washington, DC and the ICBA Live in Nashville, TN. This was a great opportunity for Suntell to reconnect with customers and meet new prospects. It was exciting for Suntell as we roll out new products this year to further extend our leadership in helping our customers become more efficient at their daily activities in the commercial and agricultural financing arena. An observation while at the conference was the large increase in new vendors that are promoting an automated digital lending platform for small business lending. In the last couple of years, the non-bank Fintech lenders have been aggressive in marketing and making the application and approval process a very streamlined process involving online applications and quick decision turnaround. I believe some in the banking universe feel pressure to counter this threat, thus the increase in the new vendors offering similar Fintech platforms.
At Suntell, we are evaluating future enhancements to the Square 1 Credit Suite that can provide added efficiency to those commercial loans on the smaller less complex end. With that in mind, we always take into account best practices and regulatory guidance for commercial loan originations and managing credit risk. Earlier this year I wrote a piece related to this that I posted on our website blog and on LinkedIn. That article in its entirety can be found here. I encourage everyone to read and evaluate this article if you are looking to extend into automating any portion of your commercial lending for smaller business loans.
Duane Lankard
Suntell CEO & Founder
