On December 14, 2022, Silvr and Deutsche Firmenkredit Partner (DFKP) laid the foundation for a successful partnership – marking Silvr’s entry into the German market. DFKP is one of the leading brokers of business financing in Germany, with an extensive network and years of expertise in the SME sector.
Over the past two years, our collaboration has enabled numerous small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from various industries to access financing ranging from 5,000 to 800,000 euros. Today, we speak with Paul Weber, CEO of DFKP, about the progress of the partnership and what lies ahead.
Paul, how do you assess the current situation for SMEs?
Traditional banks often have rigid risk models and show varying degrees of willingness to finance smaller companies. Traditional lending processes are often time-consuming, marked by long waiting periods and a lot of paperwork. Digital business loan providers, like Silvr, are continuously evolving and able to fill this gap. Independent platforms like DFKP have established themselves in this growing market, offering SMEs fast and straightforward financing solutions.
How did the partnership between DFKP and Silvr come about?
As a loan brokerage platform, we are always looking for digital partners. Personal contact with the Silvr team led to a close collaboration in December 2022, and together we kicked off Silvr’s market entry in January 2023. In the first few months alone, it became clear that Silvr’s financing solutions were a perfect fit for the needs of our clients.
What does the partnership look like in practice?
The core of our model is personal consultation and brokering suitable financing products for SMEs. For each SME, we select the right financing partners in dialogue, with Silvr playing a key role. Our consultants conduct comprehensive discussions with SME-owners and then submit the financing request via the Silvr Partner Platform. The intuitive use of this tool makes our work significantly easier.
What prompted the next step in the partnership?
For the past 1.5 years, we’ve been submitting financing requests to Silvr via the aforementioned Partner Platform, and it worked seamlessly. All of our consultants had access to the portal, and we were able to efficiently match multiple SMEs with Silvr’s financing solutions.
Now, we aim to take the partnership to the next level by integrating our systems. By introducing the API (Application Programming Interface), which Silvr provides to all strategic partners, we can now embed Silvr’s financing solutions directly into our own system. This allows our consultants to submit financing applications faster, streamlining the process for our clients.
The API has been live for a few weeks now. What impact have you noticed so far?
We’ve significantly improved the efficiency and speed of our processes. The reduced processing times and improved conversion rates make us very optimistic about the future. The API has already proven to be a valuable tool.
What role does Open Banking play in this process?
Open Banking is a key component in further speeding up the loan process, and at DFKP, we encourage our clients to use Open Banking from the start. When we have access to our clients’ business account data via Open Banking, we can forward this information directly to Silvr. Based on this data, Silvr can usually make a credit decision within 24 hours. For loans up to 50,000 euros, the evaluation is often based solely on the account data. This is a major advantage for SMEs that need fast and straightforward solutions.
What does the future hold for DFKP?
Today, we are like the new digital bank for many of our clients. DFKP is proud to be the market leader in business financing brokerage in Germany, and we aim to further strengthen this position, especially through successful partnerships like the one with Silvr. Our focus, now and in the future, will remain on speed, optimizing processes, and seamless digital connections with banks and lenders to maintain our standing as the leading platform in the market.
With the expansion of the partnership and the integration of new technologies like the API and Open Banking, Silvr and DFKP are paving the way for even more efficient SME financing.
