FinTechInvestment

London-based Pollinate, a platform that works to update bank’s legacy systems, has secured a multi-year deal with National Australia Bank (NAB) to deploy its digital merchant service platform for its SME customers.

Pollinate says a third of Australian SMEs bank with NAB, and its global cloud-based platform will help those customers better manage and grow their businesses.

In Australia only 54% of small firms use digital invoicing and accounting relative to 78% of large businesses.

Andrew Irvine, NAB’s Group Executive for Business & Private Banking said NAB was focused on delivering innovative products for small businesses to help them succeed.

“Real-time data that delivers greater insights into what customers want, when and how they want it, can be transformative to a small business,” he said.

“Leveraging Pollinate’s platform, NAB will be able to give businesses the information they need to make decisions about their daily sales at their fingertips.”

NAB also joins NatWest, Mastercard, EFM Asset Management and Motive Partners as an investor in Pollinate, bringing the total amount raised to £70m.

Al Lukies CBE, founder and CEO of Pollinate added: “Banks around the world have had a difficult decade, but they remain the only ones in the payment chain who can connect directly with both merchants and consumers.

“NAB is ideally placed to create a virtuous circle between the bank, its business customers and the communities they serve. We are honoured to be their partner of choice in Australia.”