identifying patterns and highlighting potential risks. It can analyse financial information, transaction behaviour and historical performance far faster than a human ever could.
Where human judgement becomes critical is when the story behind the numbers matters. Many SME owners have experienced events that don’ t fit neatly into a credit model. They may have faced a one-off disruption, a difficult period during the COVID pandemic, a major customer loss or a personal circumstance that impacted their credit history.
The data may show the outcome, but it doesn’ t always explain the cause.
Our credit team is there to understand the context, ask the right questions and assess whether a business has genuinely moved forward. That’ s particularly important for SMEs because businesses are rarely linear.
Growth often comes with volatility, and responsible lending requires understanding both the numbers and the narrative behind them. The distinction matters because we’ re lending to people, not just datasets.
84 August 2026