Canadian Lenders Association’s Approved Vendor and Member Swoop Expands to Canada in Advance of Open Banking
TORONTO — November 30, 2021 — Canadian Lenders Association’s (CLA) approved vendor and member Swoop has now expanded its services to Canada. The business funding and savings platform has been highly successful in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, growing to a user base of 60k SMEs. Swoop has assisted its users in obtaining more than C$100m in funding over the past year, and now brings its expertise to Canadian businesses.
Joining a group of startups entering into Canada in advance of the launch of open banking, Swoop has set up a new office in Toronto. Andrea Reynolds, Swoop’s founder and CEO, says, “Toronto has the highest volume of top-quality SMEs in Canada. From here, we can get to know the market and the nuances of the SME community.”
The team at Swoop has already established partnerships with more than 30 lenders in Canada, and its research has determined that 350,000 SMEs already use digital services here. This number will likely increase with the onset of open banking. In particular, SMEs benefit from digital services, allowing for increased transaction speed and operational efficiency.
“Swoop’s move into the Canada market is a clear sign that we are transitioning into an open banking economy.” says Gary Schwartz, President of the CLA, “the CLA’s upcoming roundtable on open banking is set to launch next quarter; member companies will share best practices on open banking technology and work to accelerate the market.”
Daire Burke, Head of Swoop Canada added, “we are very excited to be launching Swoop in Canada and giving Canadian SMEs a tool to quickly find the right funding solutions to support their growth. SMEs are the backbone of the Canadian economy and access to capital is a significant barrier to growth for many of these businesses. Our team is looking forward to helping small businesses across Canada bounce back from the pandemic by getting access to the finance they need. Partnering with the CLA gives us a fantastic opportunity to build on our partnerships with lenders in Canada who are driving innovation and working to reduce the barriers which SMEs face in accessing capital.”
About Swoop
Swoop is a business funding and savings platform enabling businesses to discover the right funding solutions across debt, equity and grants, and to identify and easily make savings – all in one fell swoop. The Swoop platform works with more than 1,000 funding providers from mainstream banks, alternative lenders, venture capital funds, angel investors, and grant agencies to save business owners time in researching funding opportunities. Instead, they are provided with a personalized list of funding providers to choose from. The platform provides users with a centralized location for all of the financial resources, information, and advice they need right at their front door.
About Canadian Lenders Association
The Canadian Lenders Association supports the growth of companies that are in the business of lending, or providing other means of credit, to small businesses and individuals by non-conventional or innovative means to exchange ideas and explore ways of improving the sector; encourage principled and professional practices by Innovative Lenders; educate the public at large about Innovative Lending; encourage individual potential borrowers to be informed about the appropriateness of Innovative Lending to the borrowers’ circumstance; and to advocate on behalf of, and represent the interests of Innovative Lenders