Digital Development of Innovative Corporate Lending Models in Banks (ACCESS Access to science business innovation in digital economy)

Summary

• Global bank investments in corporate lending reached $37.3 trillion as of early 2026, marking an increase of almost 70% over a 10-year period.p.4
• Annual interest income earned by banking institutions from corporate loans doubled between 2015 and 2025, reaching $0.7 trillion.p.5
• Adopting end-to-end digital lending reduces loan decision-making times from 3–5 weeks down to 5–10 minutes and cuts operating costs by up to 40%.p.8
• More than 60 banks across the Eurozone and other global regions have transitioned to end-to-end digital corporate lending.p.8
• In 2025, Ukraine's hryvnia-denominated business loan portfolio expanded by 28.4%, supported by a drop in the National Bank of Ukraine discount rate from 25% in 2022 to 15% in 2025.p.10
• Econometric calculations for JSC VST-Bank show that adopting the VostokSmartFlowLending model increases its SME loan portfolio from 5 billion UAH to 6,5 billion UAH.p.13
• Implementing VostokSmartFlowLending delivers an estimated annual profit increase of 0.61 billion UAH while raising the bank's RAROC from 52% to 134%.p.13

Key insights

1. Traditional corporate lending models reliant on financial statements and physical collateral fail to provide the speed and flexibility required in a digitalized economy.p.1
2. Global corporate loan portfolio growth rates slowed over the 2020–2025 period compared to the 2015–2020 period.p.5
3. End-to-end digital lending has emerged as the most widespread and promising corporate lending innovation globally.p.8
4. Neobanks and fintech platforms like Revolut, OnDeck, and Kabbage lead end-to-end digital lending, focusing primarily on the SME market.p.10
5. Ukraine's corporate lending sector operates under a hybrid model combining digital data-driven tools, state guarantees, and international funding mechanisms.p.10
6. While global banks have transitioned to platform-based AI models, Ukraine remains in an institutional-digital transition state tailored to wartime recovery.p.11
7. Cash-flow-based AI scoring enables banks to extend credit based on real-time business operational turnover, reducing reliance on traditional collateral.p.12