Sberbank has started lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) online: clients with e-signature can get credit without visiting the bank office.

Sberbank’s Senior Vice President, Head of The Retail Business Anatoly Popov has told in the interview with Kommersant.ru that introduction of the new approach allowed the bank to reduce the period of application for credit by three times in current stage.

According to him, this solution has no analogues in the market yet. Entrepreneurs could only fill in an online application before, which was more of a request for a call back, or contact managers by email.

He has stressed that the new system offers the clients a range of products according to their needs and automatically fills in all known information about the client in the application, including the data from open sources. The client only needs to check the relevance of information and confirm.

“The system tells the client which kind of collateral the bank will require for given products, and in which cases the presence of guarantors will be necessary. Further the entrepreneur will only have to upload the relevant documents. If he/she understands that certain documents are not at hand, while the money is necessary immediately, it is always possible to change the product,” Sberbank representative clarified.

Clients with e-signatures can apply for a loan online. If the client does not have similar signature, he/she will have to bring certain original documents to the bank and sign them on the spot.

Only clients of Sberbank have the right to get a loan without visiting the bank. Others will have to pass an identification procedure.

The period of loan registration depends on the product and specifics of the client’s business: from 1 day for microbusinesses with simple loan contracts and up to 10-15 days for complicated deals.

According to Anatoly Popov, the incorporation of online lending will not result in cuts.

In 2017 Sberbank provided SMEs with loans to the tune of more than RUR 1,3 trillion. The bank services 2 million clients, representing SMEs.

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