CFIT aims to help SMEs secure financing with new coalition featuring Mastercard and Lloyds Bank
The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), a UK-based private sector body established in 2023 to help drive growth in the country’s fintech sector, has unveiled the next “blue-chip” financial institutions set to lead its latest coalition focused on improving access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
CFIT set to launch new SME-focused coalition in Q1 2025
Launching in Q1 2025, the initiative will be led by Mastercard and Lloyds Bank, with additional organisations expected to join throughout the year.
According to the CFIT, the coalition will expand upon its open finance project and SME Finance Taskforce by “developing the technology, policy and regulatory solutions to help the UK’s 5.6 million small businesses raise external finance more readily, successfully and efficiently”.
Specifically, the initiative’s primary goals include the development of a digital finance education solution and a digital marketplace for SME financing, while advancing the CFIT’s prior projects to enhance SME lending with “supply-side proofs of concept” like an SME resilience index to support better-informed lending decisions.
Jane Prokop, Mastercard EVP and global head, small and medium enterprises, notes that SMEs are “too often reluctant borrowers, deterred from accessing the finance they need to prosper due to previous bad experience or cultural factors such as greater risk aversion than in other markets”, adding that “when they do seek to borrow, they frequently are unable to receive funds at a reasonable cost or in the needed amount”.
This coalition marks a shift for the CFIT towards a hybrid model where the organisation will “simultaneously run publicly and privately funded coalitions,” expanding beyond its original model launched in 2023 with support from HM Treasury and the City of London Corporation.
Looking ahead, the CFIT’s chair Charlotte Crosswell states: “We are also working closely with industry on other key projects for 2025, such as smart data schemes in financial services and delivering more inclusive financial service propositions.”
