KfW and WIBank agree to pilot partnership to advance online approval for promotion

• WIBank links its commercial promotional products to KfW's digital platform
• Costumers and financing partners benefit from improved transparency and speed
• The goal is to build a digital promotion platform that incorporates institutions across Germany

KfW and WIBank, the promotional institution of the German state of Hesse, have agreed to integrate WIBank's commercial promotional products into KfW's online promotional funding platform. As a result, small and medium-sized companies, the self-employed, and business owners in Hesse will be able to apply online for WIBank and KfW promotional funds via their financing partners in future. Their applications will be automatically checked, meaning a decision can be made in a matter of minutes. The pilot partnership between the two promotional institutions is geared towards developing the current platform into a sales and service platform, which will allow all of Germany's state-level promotional institutions to offer their own products independently and in a customer-oriented manner. In addition to WIBank, KfW has another pilot partner in the form of L-Bank, the promotional institution of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Launched in 2014 under the name "On-Lending Online 2.0 (BDO 2.0)", KfW's promotional platform built the technical foundations needed to ensure simple and swift digital access to promotional funds in Germany. Financing partners can apply for funding online on behalf of their clients. Applications can then be checked automatically with a binding financing decision made within just a few minutes. Financing partners and borrowers benefit from improved transparency, speed and funding security in equal measure.

KfW issued its first digital approval back in 2014 as part of a financing programme in the housing sector. KfW has been gradually integrating commercial financing and automatic approvals into its promotional funding platform since 2016. Housing grants are now also processed online on KfW's grant portal.

The aim of transforming BDO 2.0 into a sales and service platform (SSP) is to create a digital ecosystem for promotional funding in Germany. As strong, regionally active providers of promotional funding, the promotional institutions of the federal states play a central role in this process. And the plan is to expand digitalisation of promotional business even further than just the cooperation between KfW and the promotional institutions of the federal states. The aim is to create a multi-bank, online system that connects funding providers, banks, credit unions, savings banks, financial brokers, experts and borrowers and enables them all to cooperate.

While WIBank may be KfW's pilot partner on the one hand, it is also a pilot institution in a consortium of nine state promotional institutions (a banking cooperative) on the other. The goal of this cooperative is to improve the efficiency of the promotional funding process and make it more customer-friendly. As a result of this move, the SSP will enable national and state promotional institutions in Germany to establish a broad cooperation where all partners are on equal footing. The new digital ecosystem will also help to achieve an unprecedented level of transparency and effectiveness in the field of promotional funding in Germany.

"Digitalisation is not an end in itself. It's about quicker, easier and more transparent processes for everyone involved, and thus also for the people in Germany and our local businesses. The pilot partnership with KfW and the plans to build a digital ecosystem for promotional funding are not just a vision; they are essential if we are to play an active role in shaping the digital future in line with our owners' social and economic goals," said Gottfried Milde, Chairman of the Executive Board at WIBank.

With their pilot partnership, both KfW and WIBank are moving forward with their digital transformation. "In WIBank, we have gained a strong partner for the digitalisation of the promotional sector and the transformation of our sales and service platform BDO 2.0. Together, we are paving the way for private and commercial investors in Hesse and a number of other German states to enjoy even quicker and simpler financing decisions for their projects. This partnership is an important step towards improving digital ties within Germany's promotional landscape for the benefit of costumers," said Dr Ingrid Hengster, the member of the KfW Executive Board responsible for domestic promotional business.

Further information on the digitalisation of the application and approval process for promotional loans at KfW is available at www.kfw.de/bdo.

Press Office WIBank:
Claudia Ungeheuer
Telefone: +49 (0)69 91323716

www.wibank.de