ING Launches Strategic Partnership and Pilot Program with Kabbage
ING, one of Europe's largest banks, announced a strategic partnership with Kabbage, a leading fintech company specializing in automated small business lending, in May 2019. As part of the partnership, ING launched a pilot program leveraging Kabbage's technology platform. Kabbage's platform uses real-time data and automated underwriting to provide fast lending decisions to small businesses.
The partnership aligns with ING's broader digital transformation strategy of collaborating with fintech firms to accelerate innovation. Specific financial terms and the geographic scope of the pilot were not disclosed. The deal exemplifies the growing trend of major European banks embedding fintech lending capabilities into their offerings to better serve SME customers.
- Major European banks are increasingly partnering with US fintech lenders rather than building proprietary automated lending platforms
- Kabbage's bank partnership model validates the embedded lending approach for serving SME customers at scale