Outreach for the World Economic Forum’s fourth report involved over 150 interviews and 10 international workshop sessions, which encouraged collaborative dialogue to discuss insights and opportunities concerning fintech disruption within the financial services industry. Below are a few highlights from the report in relation to SMEs.

New entrants are significantly disrupting the lending market. The report found, that individual and small‐business borrowers expect their lender to deliver the seamless digital origination and rapid adjudication pioneered by leading fintechs. This is where disruption occurs.

Case studies showed that lending to small businesses through alternative lenders increase in 2016, with 59.2 percent in that category. JP Morgan partnered with online lender OnDeck to improve its loan origination to the bank’s roughly four million small‐business customers.

Small and medium‐sized businesses increasingly adopt cloud‐based software solutions. Lenders are forming partnerships with non‐financial platforms to use their data and offer loans through their user interfaces.