The alternative lending industry is a rapidly growing space which is continuing to fill the gap between traditional lenders and small business, and where competition is fierce. 

For TruePillars, a startup lending fintech that handles a relatively small volume of high value small business loans, rapid turnaround times on funding approvals is a key market differentiator.

A recent partnership with one of Australia’s largest plumbing and bathroom supply businesses meant that they needed to prepare for a large influx of small business loan applications at a record volume.

TruePillars identified the need for a scalable, standardised, and extensible system capable of supporting a large volume of applications. They also needed the ability to automate a majority of the loan origination process over time. To deliver this outcome, TruePillars evaluated various technology solutions and ultimately selected the nCino Bank Operating System® as the preferred platform. nCino’s alliance with KPMG created the right combination of industry and technical expertise to deliver the vision.

Enabling configuration

nCino’s Commercial Loan Origination System (LOS) enables rapid, structured processing of loan applications and standardised, configurable integration with other systems. With a very tight 12-week implementation timeline, the KPMG team quickly established a strong rapport and working relationship with TruePillars, working through the current and target state processes early, to enable commencement of nCino configuration as quickly as the second week of the project. 

Leveraging Powered methodology, and with significant buy-in from TruePillars’ key stakeholders, KPMG was able to deliver an out-of-the-box nCino cloud-based solution from day one and maintained this right through to go live. As with most projects, some initial scoping assumptions did not hold up. However, the early development of a trust-based relationship meant honest and open conversations about scope were able to lead to quick decisions on alternative approaches.

The value of trust

Building trust early was critical to the project’s success. This was achieved by demonstrating both a deep knowledge of the financial and fintech industries and our ability to rapidly understand and appreciate the intricacies of their unique business model. This enabled a close working relationship with key business and technology stakeholders, allowing for key decisions to be agreed rapidly and regularly, a critical ingredient to delivering a working end-to-end nCino Commercial LOS in 12 weeks.

TruePillars’ primary measure of success was to be able to efficiently assess and process the large volume of loan applications anticipated through the new partnership. KPMG was able to establish a scalable nCino Commercial LOS for processing the loan applications immediately, while also creating a framework to support automation of loan processing with future enhancements over time.

Scale, at speed

KPMG’s technical and industry expertise allowed us to advise and implement the right features of the nCino Commercial LOS for the client. By drawing on our experience working with financial institutions both large and small, we enabled TruePillars’ to scale at speed. Despite working through COVID-19 lockdowns, KPMG maintained a connected virtual relationship with all stakeholders to meet the tight deadline.

While nCino is relatively new to the Australian market, it has deep roots in the financial services industry and was originally started by a group of bankers in the US. A decade after its original founding, nCino is becoming an established player and industry leader in the Loan Origination space globally. With KPMG as an implementation partner, TruePillars could feel confident that the project would deliver the desired business outcomes at pace.

This project demonstrates that KPMG can deliver digital transformations with speed, control, and operational excellence.

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