CrossLend is entering into a partnership with creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft, a leader in digital SME financing, to pioneer digital securitisation of SME loans in Germany. creditshelf has been facilitating loans to German SMEs via its online platform since 2015. Using the creditshelf platform, CrossLend acts as an investor, purchasing and then securitising loan receivables to be offered as a new product to qualified investors via CrossLend’s own channels. An initial qualified investor will provide a several million euro investment in creditshelf’s new venture each month via CrossLend.

Loans originated over this platform will function in such a way that they can be passed on to institutional investors either immediately or with a delay. The flexibility of this fully automated process will both increase transparency and keep costs low, while also opening up opportunities for new groups of investors. In parallel to the Capital Markets Union, which seeks to promote ease of investment and movement of funds across borders, connecting investors with enterprises seeking funding for business ventures throughout Europe, CrossLend, via creditshelf’s platform, aims to open up and facilitate investment opportunities across the European Union and beyond.

CrossLend’s digital securitisation platform will process the conversion of the loans into bonds. “The goal of our platform has always been to make the credit market more efficient, transparent and digital”, says CrossLend CEO Oliver Schimek. “Coming together with creditshelf to bring about real-time securitisation of SME loans does a great deal to bring us closer to that aim while also furthering the aims of the Capital Markets Union.”

The partnership between creditshelf and CrossLend launches with an initial investor who has pledged to build a multi-million euro loan portfolio via monthly investments in the new joint venture. Other institutional investors are already in line to invest in SME loans through this innovative collaboration, which is set to attract further investor interest with its offering of an additional sales channel made possible by the cooperative efforts of creditshelf and CrossLend.