Business
Upstart and the National Bankers Association Partner to Provide AI Lending Technology for Minority-Owned Banks
WASHINGTON & SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), a leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform, and the National Bankers
About this update from Upstart Holdings, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":" WASHINGTON & SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nUpstart (NASDAQ: UPST), a leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform, and the National Bankers Association (NBA) today announced a partnership to improve access to affordable credit for customers of minority-owned depository institutions (MDIs) through a unique agreement to use Upstart’s AI lending platform.\nThis press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211209005372/en/Quote from Nicole Elam, President and CEO of the National Bankers Association (Graphic: Upstart)\nNBA represents the nation’s MDIs, banks that are majority owned or operated by people of color, located predominantly in communities of color. These minority-owned banks are key to enabling economic mobility in diverse communities by offering access to credit, often when other financial institutions will not.\n\nThe partnership with Upstart will offer MDIs advanced digital lending technology and the ability to provide smaller personal loans economically to their communities. Smaller loan amounts can help borrowers recover from short-term setbacks, without paying exorbitant interest rates from payday lenders that can quickly turn into cycles of debt.\n\n“We applaud Upstart’s commitment to working with us to find ways to underwrite smaller personal loans in an efficient, affordable and consumer-friendly way,” said Nicole Elam, President and CEO of the NBA. “Access to advanced and innovative technologies not only will help our member banks meet the needs of their communities, but also compete more effectively as all banking becomes increasingly digital.”\n\nUnder this partnership, Upstart will offer NBA members special implementation pricing, tailored volume minimums, and unit pricing on small loans.\n\n“By providing more access to credit within low-to-moderate income communities, NBA’s minority-owned banks play a critical role in helping to close the racial wealth gap in America,” said Nat Hoopes, Vice President and Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Upstart. “We know that access to credit is fundamental to economic mobility and working with Nicole and the NBA Innovation Committee is a unique opportunity to unlock credit where it is often needed most.”\n\nUpstart is also offering NBA member banks access to the Upstart Referral Netwo...